Ephesians

An Introduction And Commentary

Darrell L. Bock, Darrell L Bock

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781783598946
• eBook ISBN:
  9781783598953
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

"Ephesians: A Guide to Living in Christ" unlocks the timeless wisdom of Paul's letter, offering guidance for a Christ-centered life.Unlike Paul's letters to the Galatians or the Corinthians, the letter to the Ephesians contains almost no clues about the situation and issues its recipients faced. Nevertheless, the letter vividly depicts how God's will revealed in Christ reorients believers' lives toward unity, mutual respect, submission and love - in short, new life in Christ, relying on his power and strength.Darrell Bock shows how this precious jewel of a letter combines gospel doctrine, enablement and exhortation to life.

COMMENTARY

1. PRAISE FOR GOD’S WORK IN CHRIST AND PRAYER FOR AN UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S POWER (1:1 – 2:22)

It is often the case that an outline of Ephesians separates chapter 1 from chapter 2, as well as making the common observation that the letter reflects Paul’s typical style of laying down doctrine and then applying it. Paul follows this doctrinal structure in Ephesians 1 – 3, while dealing with application in Ephesians 4 – 6. However, a conceptual separation of chapter 1 from chapter 2 obscures an important connection in Paul’s doctrinal argument. The description of how God brings new life in Christ by grace with its result of reconciliation is the illustration of God’s power that Paul prays the Ephesians might grasp in Ephesians 1:15–23. Salvation is rooted in God’s power and aims at a reconciliation that is not just between an individual and God but between groups, giving them access to God. Appreciating this reshaping of how we see the world is one of Paul’s goals. The fact that believers are linked to each other in Christ and as a group share access to God’s unlimited power is why Paul launches into praise of God’s work. The note of doctrine, worship and prayer sets the spiritual tone of the letter.

A. Greeting (1:1–2)

Context

The spiritual note of the letter comes right at the start with Paul’s greeting. Paul states that he is the sender of this missive, while grounding his communication in the connection his recipients have to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This relationship means that the Ephesians are part of the special, set-apart people (‘saints’) of God. The description of the Ephesians as also being faithful reminds us of what begins this connection: an ongoing trust in Christ that opens up access to the power that fuels the new life. Grace and peace surround the Ephesians, and so Paul greets them noting these two core blessings that come from God. In this opening, Paul has taken a standard greeting (sender, recipients, note of greeting) and has sanctified it because life is not just about people, but also about their connection to God.

Comment

1. Paul is the author of this letter. He is a commissioned leader (apostle) who came to that apostleship by the will of God (Gal. 1:15). The allusion here is to the calling on the Damascus road (Acts 9). The term apostle means a commissioned, authorized messenger, a ‘sent one’. Paul opens Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1 Timothy 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:1; and Titus 1:1 noting his apostleship as well. Another common self-referential opening is as a ‘slave’ of Jesus (Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:1). The raised Jesus transformed the former chief persecutor of the church into the premier theologian of the early church. The theology he developed was not his creation, as the core of high Christology and faith was sufficiently in place to make possible his change of view about the church when Jesus confronted him on the Damascus road. When Jesus appeared to him, Paul suddenly realized what the apostles and the church had been preaching about: a raised and exalted Jesus was reality. That theology had emerged in the events tied to the life of the one Paul now called Lord. It took the presence of such a high Christology for him to understand what Jesus’ appearing to him meant. Paul developed what the depth of faith involved and now summarizes it for the Ephesians. It is rooted in Paul’s own awareness that he had done nothing to deserve the ministry God had graciously given to him (1 Cor. 15:9; Gal. 1:13–15; 1 Tim. 1:12–16). When Paul speaks of God’s grace, it is because he understands that salvation is not earned, but is simply received by faith as the gift it is. Paul will develop what this apostleship means in Ephesians 3:1–13.

Paul’s reference to himself as an apostle does not make him one of the Twelve, but is a description of his encounter with Jesus and of his calling to a significant role in the church, one he shared with figures like Barnabas, James, the Lord’s brother, and Apollos (Acts 14:4, 14; 1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 1:19; 1 Cor. 4:6, 9). These apostles functioned like a combination of missionary and church emissary. Paul was a church planter and edifier. His ministry to the Ephesians in Acts 19 shows this part of his role. Later he had left the church in the leaders’ hands as he headed to Jerusalem and then to Rome, where he arrived as a prisoner whose fate would be determined there (Acts 20:17–38). Now, from that Roman prison, he sends a letter to Ephesus and the wider region to solidify their understanding of what it means to know God and his grace.

The recipients in Ephesus and beyond1 are described with two key terms: saints and faithful in Christ Jesus. A saint is one set apart as not common, called to be used by God. In the Old Testament, a variety of items were described as set apart: a nation (Exod. 19:6), a specific place (Exod. 3:5), the temple (1 Chr. 29:3), the Sabbath (Exod. 31:14–15), as well as people (Exod. 22:31). In our time, sainthood is often seen as earned, but to Paul, anyone in Christ is a saint, set apart and made holy by God, not by that person’s own work, and brought to new life to serve God. This results in all believers being priests (1 Pet. 2:9), not as professional clergy but as fellow ministers for the cause of God. This sainthood is one of the great benefits of being a recipient of God’s grace. It also reflects a responsibility to act like one who has received this calling.

These Ephesians are also faithful (cf. Col. 1:2). This word can refer to one who has faith (active) or one who is faithful (passive, so referring to the product of an active faith). The active sense alone cannot be meant as that would be awkward in the syntax of the sentence. The point is not about simply having faith, but about the responsiveness built into faith. One who trusts also responds out of that trust. So faith is not absent from what Paul is saying here, but more than that is present. In a sense faith begins and drives the Christian walk, so it is hard to point to one meaning over another here. Those who are in Christ trust him and live in the light of that initiating faith from day to day. This is one of the reasons why they can be said to be ‘in Christ’. They have trusted Christ not merely for an initial moment but for their very spiritual lives. So their lives are found to be in Christ Jesus. In the Messiah who is Jesus, they have been brought into a new life and a new community, set apart to serve God.

2. Paul’s greeting expands on the normal Greek greeting that simply said, in effect, ‘welcome’ or ‘hello’.2 Instead, Paul mentions two spiritual benefits that run through his recipients’ entire relationship to God: grace and peace. The wording is common in Paul (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:3; Phil. 1:2; 2 Thess. 1:2; Phlm. 3). The repetition and use by other Christian writers point to a common liturgical use of the phrase (1 Pet. 1:2; 2 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 1:4). Grace is tied to the entire activity of God growing out of Christ’s work. Grace as a gift is rooted in God’s mercy and comes with no sense of my entitlement or being owed anything. Peace is the Hebrew concept of shalom (Gen. 29:6), referring to well-being. Paul’s wish is for the Ephesians to experience this in fullness. The fact that this grace and peace come as a blessing equally from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ shows the cooperation that exists between them in salvation. Hebrew greetings often referred to mercy and peace, so this is an adaptation of that kind of greeting (Jude 2; Jub. 12:29; 2 Apoc. Bar. 78:2). It is almost a cause-and-effect greeting, with grace being the context, which results in peace. God’s acceptance of them frees them to live at peace. The intimacy of the blessing is noted in its originating from our Father, alongside the authority of such gifts being mediated through the Lord Jesus who serves as the anointed one (Christ) of the kingdom.

Theology

A theology of pastoral care emerges from the greeting. Paul commends the Ephesians for their faithfulness even as he turns to exhort them. The challenge of a pastor is to encourage his or her people to grow. Paul reminds them of their secure position in Christ, having been set apart to God. Paul requests grace and peace for them, something their connection to God and Christ can supply.

B. Praise for God’s plan and work in Christ (1:3–14)

Context

The opening note of blessing of God works through what God has done in Christ, what the goal of that plan is and what believers have received as a result. God has given believers every heavenly blessing in Christ as part of a plan he has worked out to sum up all things in Christ. So believers are chosen, fully adopted children of God, redeemed and forgiven recipients of grace with access to wisdom and understanding. Those who believe in Jesus as Messiah and Saviour are God’s own possession, have hope in Christ and are sealed with the Spirit of God as a guarantee of their coming full redemption. In other words, Paul is rejoicing in all God has done for those who are his. His desire is for the Ephesians to appreciate the rich treasure trove they possess. This presence of a note of praise is distinct from Paul’s normal pattern, which is to follow his greeting with thanksgiving and a prayer. The prayer for the community will follow this note of praise. The other interesting feature of this exclamation of blessing, called a berakah or a eulogy (in a positive sense), is its length. It is one long sentence of 202 words, a literal string of quite extended praise. All of this describes part of a plan God worked out for believers before the creation. Their place, with all its benefits, has been reserved for them since eternity.

This honouring of God serves as an introduction, an overture, to the entire letter. Reconciliation is at the base of the church. Such reconciliation reflects a way of life that is distinctive about Christians. It is a crucial goal in salvation. It stands prominent among the array of blessings that are rooted in the salvation that comes in Christ. So in the body of the letter Paul will turn from what salvation gives to what it means for our walk and identity. The fact that the church, reconciliation and the distinctive ways of living are not mentioned here at the start does not disqualify the note of praise from setting up such themes, acting as the theological base for the development Paul will present. Paul will move from faithfulness to the blessings and what they contain, creating a transition to these larger themes.

Comment

3. The opening word, blessed, serves to point to a note of praise to God (Gen. 9:26; Exod. 18:10; 1 Sam. 25:32; 1 Chr. 29:10). Gnilka calls this the theme verse of the unit.3 If this were a psalm, we would be thinking of a praise psalm, where God is acclaimed and then the reasons for that acclamation follow. That is very much what we have here. When we say a blessing, we are giving a note of praise, speaking well of someone.4 It is a declaration and acclamation, not a mere wish. When we receive a blessing, we are the beneficiaries of an act of bestowal from someone who has done something worthy and beneficial. This verse has both ideas. We praise God for what he has done and we are the recipients of those actions. It is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is praised. He is the initiator of the plan. All things flow from him. He is the one who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. We have received all heaven has to offer in salvation, a blessing rooted in eternity past, participated in now and connected with an eternal future that remains for those who share in it. It also is a blessing that comes from beyond, a transcendent form of life that God supplies to those who trust him.

The verse has reference to blessing three times: we bless God, God blesses and we have received blessing from him. Paul opens with a cascade of appreciation. These blessings are spiritual: they touch the deepest part of a person, the part that drives a person and his or her way of seeing and acting. They are also spiritual because they come from and through the Spirit of God who energizes the image of God residing deep within us. These spiritual benef...

Table of contents

• GENERAL PREFACE
• AUTHOR’S PREFACE
• ABBREVIATIONS
• SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INTRODUCTION
• ANALYSIS
• COMMENTARY
• 2. PAUL’S CALLING IN THE MYSTERY TO MINISTER TO THE GENTILES CULMINATES IN PRAYER FOR STRENGTH AND A BENEDICTION OF GOD’S CAPABILITY (3:1–21)
• 3. THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD (4:1 – 6:24)
• NOTES