Ephesians

An Exegetical Commentary

Hoehner, Harold W.

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2002
• ISBN:
  9781441210555
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

Harold Hoehner has taught biblical exegesis to thousands of students over the years. He now brings that experience to bear on this important work. He begins with a helpful introduction to the letter of Ephesians in which he addresses issues of authorship, structure and genre, historical setting, purpose, and theology. At the end of the introduction, the author includes a detailed bibliography for further reading. Hoehner then delves into the text of Ephesians verse by verse, offering the Greek text, English translation, and detailed commentary. He interacts extensively with the latest scholarship and provides a fair and thorough discussion of every disputed point in the book. Pastors, students, and scholars looking for a comprehensive treatment on Ephesians will be interested in this commentary. Hoehner's interaction with the latest scholarship combined with his detailed exegesis will make this new commentary the only resource they will need to consult.

Commentary on Ephesians

A. Prologue (1:1–2)

The prologue of Ephesians, as in other Pauline letters, follows the normal pattern of Hellenistic openings, namely, the name of the sender, the recipients, and a greeting. As the sender Paul gives his credentials and gives a description of the recipients indicating that both sender and recipients are related to Jesus Christ. His greeting is adorned with theological content.

Text: 1:1. Παῦλος ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσιν [ἐν Ἐϕέσῳ] καὶ πιστοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ 1:2. χάρις ύμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεoῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ίησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

Translation: 1:1. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, that is, believers in Christ Jesus, 1:2. grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Commentary: In the salutation of this letter three items are mentioned: the name of the sender, the recipients, and the greeting itself.

1:1. Παῦλος, “Paul.” Immediately the writer of the epistle identifies himself as Paul. There has been much discussion on the authorship of Ephesians, as discussed in the introduction. Paul commonly mentions associates in his epistles.[1] However, this is not the case in Ephesians, Romans, and the Pastorals. If Ephesians is a forgery of Colossians, it seems strange that the writer did not use the more characteristic inclusion of those who accompanied him. Furthermore, there is no textual evidence for any other name besides the apostle’s or for the absence of Paul’s name.

ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ,[2] “apostle of Jesus Christ.” The term ἀπόστολος, “apostle,” is used in classical Greek primarily of ships being sent out for cargo or military expeditions.[3] Infrequently is it used to refer to a single person as an envoy or emissary.[4] It appears only once in the Alexandrinus text of the LXX (1 Kgs 14:6) where שָּׁלוּחַ, the passive participle of שָּׁלַח, is rendered “to send” or “to send forth.”[5] In the context of 1 Kgs 14:6 it is used of Ahijah who was commissioned and empowered to deliver a hard message to Jeroboam’s wife who had come to consult him. Although the noun is used only once, the verbs ἀποστέλλω and ἐξαποστέλλω are used 976 times and are translated almost exclusively from שָּׁלַח. Therefore, the idea not only included the sending of the messenger but more importantly the authorization of the messenger.[6]

This word was little used among the Hellenistic Jews but Paul commonly used it as a part of the greetings in his epistles to identify himself as an apostle of Christ (Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1; Col 1:1; 1 Tim 1:1; 2 Tim 1:1; Titus 1:1). It is used four times in Ephesians (1:1; 2:20; 3:5; 4:11). In the NT the term “apostle”[7] is used in three different ways. First, there are the Twelve that Jesus named “apostles” (Matt 10:2–4 = Mark 3:16–19 = Luke 6:13–16; Acts 1:13). This seems to refer to the office of the apostle. Acts 1:21–22 indicates that to qualify as an apostle one must have been with the Lord in his earthly ministry and must have witnessed his resurrection body (Acts 1:21–22; 4:33; 2 Pet 1:16; 1 John 1:1). The witness of the Twelve to Christ’s resurrection is affirmed by Paul (1 Cor 15:5). Second, there were apostles in addition to the Twelve. There were Barnabas (Acts 14:4, 14; 1 Cor 9:5–7), James, the Lord’s brother (1 Cor 15:7; Gal 1:19), and Apollos (1 Cor 4:6, 9), probably Silvanus (1 Thess 1:1; 2:6 [GT 2:7]), Titus (2 Cor 8:23), Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25), and possibly Andronicus and Junia(s)[8] (Rom 16:7). Paul mentions James and all the apostles (1 Cor 15:7) as distinct from Peter and the Twelve (15:5). In Gal 1:18–19 Paul states that when he went up to Jerusalem he visited Peter and he did not visit other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. Hence, Paul recognized apostles beyond the Twelve. These are most likely those who were endowed with the gift of apostleship because they did not meet the above mentioned qualifications for the office. Third, there was Paul who was an apostle (1 Cor 9:1; 15:9) and yet had not been with Jesus in his earthly ministry but did, however, see the Lord in his resurrection body. Hence, he claimed that he was born out of due season (1 Cor 15:8). Rather than trying to include him in either of the two categories above, it is best to see Paul as an exception to the rule and make a third category. It seems that he had the office of an apostle for the following reasons: (1) he used authority as an apostle (1 Cor 4:9; 9:1, 5; 11:5; 12:11–12); (2) he performed miracles (Acts 13:8–11; 14:3; 19:11; 2 Cor 12:12) that seemed to be done by those who had the office (Acts 2:43; 5:15–16; Heb 2:4); (3) his laying on of hands brought the Holy Spirit to the believers (Acts 19:6) such as happened to Peter (Acts 8:17); and (4) his greetings in most all of his letters (see passages above) are similar to those of Peter (1 Pet 1:1; 2 Pet 1:1). It would not be likely that he would have referred to himself as an apostle in his formal greetings if he had only the gift. Thus, this third category is an exception exclusive to Paul.

In the present context Paul has the office of apostle in mind, declaring that he is an official delegate possessed by Jesus Christ for the purpose of propagating his message.[9] The qualifying genitives (Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ) express more than mere possession as would be the case of δοῦλος[10] (“slave”) found in Rom 1:1; Phil 1:1; Titus 1:1 or δέσμιος (“prisoner”) in Phlm 1, 9. Barrett thinks they express both the possessive idea of ownership and the subjective idea of one who has been sent by Jesus Christ.[11] In relating them to the term ἀπόστολος, Paul envisions that he is not only owned by Christ but is a fully authorized ambassador sent by him. This is seen more fully in Gal 1:1 where Paul is an apostle not appointed by humans or commissioned by any one person but (ἀλλά) by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. So an apostle is one who is sent out on a mission with fully delegated authority by his master, just as the original disciples whom Jesus selected were sent out.[12]

The apostle had full authority in oral and written proclamation. This can be seen in the oral form with the preaching by Peter (Acts 2:14–40; 3:12–26) and Paul (13:16–41; 17:22–31) and when Peter disciplined Ananias and Sapphira (5:1–10). The written form is seen in the books of the NT, each produced by the power of the Holy Spirit. Another role of an apostle was to establish and build up churches. Jesus was the founder of the church (Matt 16:18) and the apostles were to build on him. Certainly, throughout Acts many churches were established. In fact, Paul makes it clear that the purpose of his preaching was to establish churches and he would not go where this was being done by another (Rom 15:20). In conclusion, it can be said that an apostle was an official delegate of Jesus Christ commissioned for the specific tasks of proclaiming authoritatively the message in oral and written form and of establishing and the building up of churches. More will be discussed in 2:20 and 4:11.

διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ, “by the will of God.” These same words are also found in 1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Col 1:1; 2 Tim 1:1. The διά denotes efficient cause or agency[13] by which Paul received his apostleship. It was not by personal drive or presumptuous human ambition but by God’s will and initiative that Paul was made an apostle. Paul was fully cognizant that not only his conversion (Gal 1:15) and his new life (Phil 2:13; Gal 1:23–24; 2:20) were of God, but, also, his apostleship as a missionary to the Gentiles was of God (Eph 3:1–2, 8, 13; Gal 1:1, 16; 2:2, 8; Rom 1:1, 5; 11:13; 1 Cor 15:9–10; 1 Tim 2:7; 2 Tim 1:11; Acts 9:15; 13:2, 47; 18:6; 22:21; 26:17).

The term θέλημα rarely used in the classical literature, means “wish, will,”[14] something that a human being has that plant life does not have.[15] In the LXX it appears forty-seven times (thirty-four times in the canonical books) and is used with reference to human desire or wish (e.g., 2 Sam 23:6; 1 Kgs 5:8–10 [MT & LXX 5:22–24]; Esth 1:8; Pss 1:2; 28:7 [LXX 27:7]; 107:30 [106:30]), his pleasure (e.g., Eccl 12:1, 10; Isa 58:3, 13), and will (Jer 23:17, 26; Dan 11:16, 36). Also, some passages refer to God’s will (Pss 103:7, 21 [LXX 102:7, 21]; 143:10 [LXX 142:10]; Isa 48:14) and his pleasure or delight (Ps 16:3 [LXX 15:3]; Isa 62:4; Jer 9:24 [MT & LXX 9:23]; Mal 1:10). Hence, it has the idea of desire, wish, will, or resolve. This term is used sixty-two times in the NT, twenty-four times by Paul, and of those, seven times in Ephesians (1:1, 5, 9, 11; 2:3; 5:17; 6:6). Only eleven times does it refer to human desire or will (Matt 21:31; Luke 12:47bis; 23:25; John 1:13bis; 7:17; 1 Cor 16:12) and desire or impulse (1 Cor 7:37; Eph 2:3; 2 Pet 1:21), and once to the devil’s will or desire (2 Tim 2:26). In these texts one finds both the idea of pleasure and resolve, depending on the context. The other fifty-one occurrences refer to God’s will, and, with the exception of Acts 13:22, it is always in the singular to present the concept that God’s will is a powerful unity.[16] God’s will is his desire or divine resolve “which cannot remain in the sphere of thought but demands action.”[17] It is the doing of God’s will that gives God pleasure and glory.

In Ephesians, with the exception of 2:3, this word always refers to God’s will. For the present context, Barth prefers the translation “decision,” contending that the term “will” might be understood as the fixed plan of an impersonal fate.[18] However, “will” is a commonly used word with reference to living and personal beings both divine and human. With regard to its usage here, it denotes a living and personal being who acts freely according to his character and brings to bear his will on those serving him. It does not seem as impersonal and fatalistic as the word “decision.” Regardless, the picture is not that God was capitulating to the whims and desires of human beings but that his will was being worked out in Paul.

[19] τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Ἐϕέσῳ, “to the saints who are in Ephesus.” The recipients of the letter are addressed as “saints” as in Phil 1:1; Col 1:2; rather than “church(es)” as in 1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:2; 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:1; Phlm 2. The term ἅγιος, “saint,” originally had “a cultic concept, referring to the quality possessed by things and persons that could approach a divinity.”[20] The Hebrew substantive (קׁרֶשׁ) is predominantly impersonal, referring to a place (Exod 3:5; Josh 5:15), to the temple (1 Chr 29:3; Ps 5:7) and its parts (Exod 26:33–34; Ps 28:2), to the sacrifices (Lev 22:12; 23:20) and vessels (1 Sam 21:5–7; 1 Kgs 8:4), and to the Sabbath (Exod 31:14–15; Neh 9:14), among other things. However, a few references allude to people (Exod 22:31; Isa 62:12; Ezra 8:28)[21] and many refer to God’s name, which may be conceivably counted as personal since God and his name are inseparable (cf. Lev 22:2, 32; 1 Chr 16:10, 35; Ps 103:1; 105:1; 145:21; Ezek 20:39; 36:20–22; 39:7bis, 25, 43:7–8; Amos 2:7). Thus, although the adjective קָרוֹשׁ can refer to impersonal things like a nation (Exod 19:6) or a place (Exod 29:31; Lev 6:16 [MT & LXX 6:9]; 10:13; Ps 46:4; Isa 57:15; Ezek 42:13), its predominant use is personal and can denote God’s unique character (Isa 1:14; 5:16; 6:3; Jer 50:29; 51:5; Ezek 39:7; Hos 11:9). It is also used to refer to angels (Job 5:1; 15:15; Ps 89:5, 7; Dan 8:13) and human beings who are called “holy [one(s), people]” (Lev 21:7; Num 6:5, 8; 16:3, 5, 7; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:19; 28:9; 2 Kgs 4:9; 2 Chr 35:3; Isa 4:3; Dan 8:24) or “saints” (Pss 16:3; 34:9; 106:16; Hos 11:12 [MT & LXX 12:1]; Zech 14:5 [קַרִּישׁ in Dan 7:18, 21, 22bis, 25, 27]).[22] Therefore, both the substantive and the adjective can be used to denote God’s unique character, but they can also be used of things, places, and persons. When the term is used to refer to things, places, and persons, it does not in itself connote any inherent holiness, for the basic root can also refer to temple prostitutes, whether they are male (קָרֵשׁ in Deut 23:17 [MT & LXX 23:18]; 1 Kgs 14:24; 15:12; 22:46 [MT & LXX 22:47]; 2 Kgs 23:7; Job 36:14) or female (קְרֵשָׁה in Deut 23:17 [MT & LXX 23:18]; Hos 4:14).[23] Thus the basic idea is that which is consecrated to God or to God’s service or, in the case of the temple prostitutes, who are dedicate...