I. AUTHOR: The Apostle Paul
A. External Evidence: All tradition takes the epistle as
being Pauline until it was first disputed by Erasmus
(fifteenth century) and by later eighteenth-twentieth
century critics. This tradition is unassailable in its
unanimity
1. Marcion included it in his canon, although under
the title of Laodiceans (c. AD 140)2
2. It was in the Muratorian Canon under the Epistles
of Paul (c. AD 180)
3. It is under the Epistles of Paul in the earliest
evidence from the Latin and Syriac versions
4. It probably preceded the Epistle of Clement of
Rome to the Corinthians (AD 95) because of its
development of thought3
B. Internal Evidence: Although later critics, such as
Erasmus (fifteenth century) and eighteenth-twentieth
century scholars, questioned Pauline authenticity over
internal evidence4, these arguments have reasonable
answers,5 and do not override the external evidence
1. Self-Claims: The author of Ephesians claims to be
the apostle Paul with personal knowledge of his
readers:
a. The author claims to be Paul in the opening
address much like Galatians, 2 Corinthians,
and Colossians 1:1
b. The author claims to be Paul in the body of
the letter in 3:1 just as in 2 Corinthians
10:1; Galatians 5:2, Colossians 1:23, 1
Thessalonians 2:18; Philemon 9.
c. The letter abounds with statements in the
first person
d. The author describes himself as one who has
personally heard of the readers (1:15), who
thanks the Lord for them (1:16), who is a
prisoner of Christ Jesus (3:1; 6:1), received
a mystery from God (3:3ff), was divinely
appointed to ministry (3:7), presently
suffers (3:13), intercedes for the readers
(3:14ff), affirms the readers' need for a new
way of thinking and living against a Gentile
background (14:17ff), interprets the mystery
(5:32), appeals for prayer on his behalf
(16:19-20), and concludes with a personal
salutation (6:21-22)
2. Pauline Structure: The letter has distinct
affinities with Paul's other epistles:
a. Pauline sequence: opening greeting,
thanksgiving, doctrinal exposition, ethical
exhortations, concluding salutations, and
benediction
b. The basing of moral appeals upon previous
theological arguments is an integral part of
the apostle's approach to problems
3. Pauline Language and Literary Affinities:
Similarity of words, vocabulary, and style
support Pauline authorship
a. Many words are common with this letter and
other Pauline letters which are also not
found in the NT
b. The vocabulary is close to earlier Pauline
letters
c. Ephesians has Pauline characteristics such as
paradoxical antitheses (6:15,20), free
citations of the OT (1:22; 2:13,17; 4:25;
5:2; 6:1-3; cf. 1 Cor. 3:9)
d. Striking similarities exist between Ephesians
and Colossians (which few modern scholars
doubt), therefore, Ephesians seems to be
Pauline too
4. Theological Affinities: This letter has been
called the crown of Paulinism due to its rich
Pauline theology:
a. Although the "Church" is a new emphases in
the letter, there is a clear background of
Pauline theology
b. God is glorious (1:17), powerful (1:19ff),
and merciful (2:4ff)
c. The Believer is "in Christ" (1:3,10,11, etc.)
d. The cross has a reconciliatory value (2:13ff)
e. The Holy Spirit has a similar ministry (2:18;
3:5; 4:1ff, 30; 5:18)
f. God's counsel is predestining (1:5ff)
5. Historical Data: The evidence here is negative
rather than positive:
a. There is no mention of the fall of Jerusalem
even though the dividing wall between Jews
and Gentiles is destroyed
b. There is no mention of the persecution of
believers
c. There is no mention of ecclesiastical
organization
II. DESTINATION: Most probably Ephesus, but a circular letter
is also possible to the churches of Asia minor with Ephesus
as the primary church addressed
A. Tradition has handed down the letter as one sent to the
Ephesian church
1. All known manuscripts except for five6 have ejn
jEqevsw/ (1:1)
2. The expression "to the saints who ..." is always
followed by a place name in parallel Pauline
passages (cf. Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1;
Phil. 1:1)
3. Paul seems to have a particular group of people in
mind (1:15ff; 6:22)
4. Perhaps the words ejn jEqevsw/ were deleted early
in some manuscripts in order to adapt the epistle
for use in other churches. Apparently this
happened to the book of Romans since Codex G
(ninth century), 1908 (eleventh century), and 1739
all delete "in Rome" at Romans 1:7
5. If Paul meant this letter to be sent to the
churches of several cities, why did he not say so
as in Galatians 1:2?
6. The title of the letter, PROS EFESIOUS ("To the
Ephesians"), is attached to all of the Greek
manuscripts even though 1:1 is not agreed upon
B. Modern criticism has strongly disputed Ephesus as the
destination:
1. The words ejn jEqevsw/ are not in the best
Alexandrian manuscripts (P46, [AD 200], a [AD
400], B [AD 400]),
2. The letter has an impersonal tone which does not
reflect Paul's writing to the Ephesians whom he
knew so well (1:15; 3:2; 4:21)Even the benediction
is impersonal since it is not addressed to "you"
but to the "brethren" and to "all those"
(6:23,24)To not mention any of the individuals of
the church is unusual in view of the fact that
Paul ministered among the Ephesians for three
years (Acts 19:1--20:5), and developed a close
relationship with the elders (Acts 20:17-38)
3. The words ejn jEqevsw/ seem to have been omitted
from Marcion's text since he considered it to have
been addressed to the Laodiceans, not the
EphesiansBut Marcion may only have had parts of
the letter without the introduction, therefore the
ascription may have only been a guess from
Colossians 4:16.
C. Possible Explanations:
1. Blank Space: It is possible that Paul left a
blank space in the original manuscripts to be
filled in by each church as they read it. This
would make the five manuscripts with "in Ephesus"
copies of the originalHowever, there are no
parallels of this in ancient literatureHowever,
this does not explain why all the rest of the
manuscripts which survived have "in Ephesus"
rather than some other place notedThe blank might
be more plausible if the e was not also missing
2. Circular Letter: Paul wrote the letter as a
circular letter to all of the churches of Asia,
but it came to be generally known as the letter to
the Ephesians early on because Ephesus was the
major city of Asia. Therefore, early scribes
inserted "in Ephesus" into the text7However, Paul
does not include a greeting of a general kind as
in ColossiansHowever, if separate copies were made
for each church, why did the scribe not fill in
the church name?
3. To Ephesus: The letter was written to the
Ephesians and addressed to them even though Paul
wrote it in a form which would make it suitable
for other churches. It was intended to be
circulated, and as it was a few scribes deleted
the words "in Ephesus" as some also did with
RomansThe encyclical nature of this epistle may
account for why Paul urged the Colossians to "read
the letter from Laodicea" (Col. 4:16)Therefore, it
is possible that the three Alexandrian Greek
manuscripts do not contain the best reading for
the following reasons:
a. All of the versions include the words without
exception
b. The geographical distribution of the majority
of Greek manuscripts which do include "in
Ephesus" is wide
c. No manuscripts of this letter mention any
other city in place of Ephesus
d. No manuscripts have only the word "in"
followed by a space to insert the cities name
e. "To the Ephesians" appears on all manuscripts
of this epistle
f. All of the letters Paul wrote to churches
include their destinations
g. The early church fathers Irenaeus, Clement of
Alexandria, and Tertullian all understood the
letter to be to the Ephesians8
h. The absence of names:
1) Perhaps Paul did not wish to single out
certain persons in this short letter
since he knew so many
2) If the letter was also circular, Paul
would have left specific Ephesian names
out for the sake of relevance to the
readers from Laodicea and Colosse
III. DATE and PLACE: AD 60-62 during Paul's first Roman
imprisonment
A. Since Clement of Rome cites Ephesians, it must be dated
earlier than AD 95
B. Paul identifies himself as a prisoner at the time of
his writing Ephesians (3:1; 4:1; 6:20)
C. It is possible that Paul could have written the letter
when he was imprisoned at Caesarea9 (Acts 24:27, AD 57-
59), or in Rome (Acts 28:30, AD 60-62)
D. Early in Paul's first Roman imprisonment seems to be
the most likely time when he wrote Ephesians:
1. It is thought that Paul wrote a group of epistles
called the "Prison Epistles" at the time of his
imprisonment in Rome:10
a. Ephesians
b. Philippians (1:7)
c. Colossians (4:10)
d. Philemon (9)
2. Ephesians is placed in this time period because of
its close association to Colossians-Philemon and
the probability that Tychicus delivered both
letters (Eph. 6:21-22; Col. 4:7-9)
3. Ephesians gives no hint of Paul's release from
prison as do Philippians (1:19-26) and Philemon
(22); therefore, it may well have been written in
the early part of his stay, or around AD 60.
E. Following Paul's release from Rome:
1. He traveled
2. He wrote 1 Timothy and Titus
3. Paul was arrested again in Rome
4. Paul wrote 2 Timothy
5. Paul was martyred in Rome
IV. A DESCRIPTION OF EPHESUS:
A. A leading center in the Roman Empire
B. Paul visited Ephesus twice:
1. Paul visited Ephesus a short time on his way back
to Antioch from his second missionary journey
(Acts 18:19-22)
2. Paul stayed in Ephesus on his third missionary
journey for three years (Acts 20:31)
C. While Paul was in Ephesus on his third missionary
journey several remarkable things occurred:
1. Paul baptized about twelve of John the Baptist's
followers (Acts 19:1-7)
2. Paul had discussions in the hall of Tyrannus (Acts
19:8-10)
3. Paul performed unusual miracles (Acts 19:11-12)
4. Paul performed exorcisms (Acts 19:13-16)
5. Sorcerers were Converted (Acts 19:17-20)
6. Paul was part of a city riot by threatened temple
workers (Acts 19:23-41)
7. Paul gave the Ephesian leaders a farewell address
in the town of Miletus (Acts 20:13-34)
V. PURPOSES OF THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS
A. No particular problem is raised in the book unlike many
of Paul's other letters
B. Some suggest that Paul's time in imprisonment enabled
him to develop an "exalted Christology and a high
appraisal of the privileges of believers in Christ"11
C. Hoehner understands "love" to be the issue that needs
to be stressed with the saints in Ephesus because even
though the church succeeded in keeping out false
teachers (cf. Acts 20:29-30 with Revelation 2:2), they
were loosing the "vibrancy of their first love for
Christ" (Rev. 2:4) and other saints (cf. also 1 Tim.
1:5)12
1. The theology of chapters 1--3 focuses upon the
need for the Ephesians to increase in their
awareness of God's love so that they will imitate
it to God's glory
2. The application of chapters 4--6 are specific
expressions of love for one another in view of
God's love
D. Paul is encouraging the church to maintain their
position of unity:13
1. The Ephesian theology is centered on God's
provision which leads to unity in the church
2. Paul writes to encourage the Ephesians to continue
in their unity through obedience, love, and
spiritual warfare
___________________________
1 Much of what follows is adapted from Donald Guthrie, New
Testament Introduction, pp. 479-521, T. K. Abbott, A Critical and
Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles to the Ephesians and to the
Colossians, ICC, pp. i-xxiii, Harold W. Hoehner, "Ephesians," in
BKC, pp. 612-614, Brevard S. Childs, The New Testament as Canon:
An Introduction, pp. 311-328.
2 This makes Pauline origin undisputed at this time since
Marcion acknowledge only Paul as having authority.
3 See Abbott for a more in-depth discussion of the church
fathers (Ephesians, pp. ix-xiii).
4 Guthrie, NTI, pp. 482-490; Abbott, Ephesians, pp. xiii-
xxix.
5 Guthrie, NTI, pp. 490-507.
6 The five are P46, c*, B* 424c, 1739 as well as manuscripts
mentioned by Basil and the text used by Origen (see Bruce M.
Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the New Testament, p. 601; T. K.
Abbott, Ephesians, pp. iff).
7 See Abbott for a full discussion of this hypothesis
(Ephesians, pp. i-ix).
8 Adv. Haer. 5.2.36; Stom. 6.65; Adv. Marc. 5.11.17.
9 For a discussion of the Caesarean origin see Abbott,
Ephesians, pp. xxix-xxxi.
10 This imprisonment was actually a time when Paul was kept
under guard in rented quarters (Acts 28:30). Therefore, these
letters could also be called the "House Arrest Epistles".
11 Guthrie, NTI, p. 515. See also A. Skevington Wood,
"Ephesians" in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, p. 17.
12 Harold W. Hoehner, "Ephesians" in BKC, p. 164.
13 In his own way Childs affirms the same type of focus, but
emphasizes that Paul has the new generation of Christians in
view. As he writes, "Paul is desirous that the new generation of
Christians understand the nature of God's present exercise of
power in their lives according to the divine purpose which he
accomplished in Christ and which encompasses the entire universe"
(The New Testament as Canon, p. 325).
This emphasis upon the "new" generation of believers might
explain why Paul uses a second-hand reference to the Ephesians in
1:15 et cetera (Ibid, p. 326). But it is also true that five
years have passed since he was last with the Ephesians,
therefore, it would be natural to hear of things which he had not
recently experienced.
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