eph_ephintro

I.  The writer: The Apostle Paul ( Eph. 1:1).
The writer also refers to himself as Paul in Eph. 3:1.

II.  The time and place of writing:

A.  The time of writing: during the period from A.D. 56 or 57 to A.D. 60 or 61.
The writer expressly states that he was prisoner at the time of writing: “I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles” (Eph. 3:1), “the prisoner of the Lord” ( Eph. 4:1), and “an ambassador in chains” ( Eph. 6:20). According to Acts there were two periods in which Paul was imprisoned, one in Caesarea (Acts 24:27) and the other in Rome (Acts 28:30). He was in also imprisoned for short periods, one night in Philippi (Acts 16:23ff.), but most of these occurred before his ministry in Ephesus (Acts. 19:1-20).

B.  The place of writing: Rome.
The traditional view is that Ephesians was written at the same time as Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon; these four letters are referred to as the Prison Epistles. They all refer to Paul’s bonds (Phil. 1:12, 13; Eph. 3:1; 4:1; 6:20; Col. 1:24; Philem. 1, 9). According to the Colossians and Philemon, at the time of the writing of these letters, there with Paul were Aristarchus (Col. 4:10), who had been one of the delegates to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4), Epaphras (Col. 4:12; Philem. 23), an Asian, Luke (Col. 4:14), “the beloved physician”, and Demas (Col. 4:14; Philem. 24). Mark had rejoined Paul at this time and was evidently planning a journey to Asia (Col. 4:10; Philem. 24). The fact that these men are mentioned both in Colossians and in Philemon indicates that these letters were written at the same time. The allusions to Caesar’s household (Phil. 4:22) and to the praetorian guard (Phil. 1:13) would better apply to the imprisonment in Rome rather than Caesarea.

Therefore, the traditional view that Ephesians was written from Rome during Paul’s period of imprisonment there sometime between the beginning of A.D. 60 and the end of A.D. 61 is probably correct.

III.  The destination: Ephesus ( Eph. 1:1).

A.  The phrase “at Ephesus” (en Epheso) in Eph. 1:1 is missing in some of the oldest manuscripts: P⁴⁶, B^*, Aleph.

B.  A possible explanation of this omission is that the epistle was an encyclical letter, written not only to the Ephesians, but more generally to churches of Asia which had been the area of Paul’s last extended ministry before the imprisonments. The absence of personal references in a letter to those in whose midst Paul had spent the best part of three years (Acts 19:8-10) seems to support this encyclical character of the letter. Its board teaching, which does not deal specifically with situations in a local church, seems to confirm this impression. Since the church at Ephesus was the largest of the province of Asia, the copy in its possession would be the most accessible and would be the one most frequently copied.

IV.  The occasion for writing:

A.  The necessity for the writing of the letter to Philemon and of sending that letter back to Asia afforded the occasion to send other letters. Among those letters were Ephesians and Colossians. Ephesians, as a general encyclical letter to be distributed through the Ephesian church, and Colossians, a direct communication to the church at Colossae, were also composed at the same time. There are many and more similarites between Ephesians and Colossians than between any other two New Testment letters. It has been pointed out that there are 78 of the 155 verses of Ephesians also found in Colossians with varying degree of similarity and phraseology. The plan and argument of the two letters are similar. Both begin with a doctrinal section followed by practical section. In the doctrinal sections they both speak of the redemption, the forgiveness of sins ( Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14), and the reconcilation to God through Christ ( Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:20), and deal with the mystery of Christ (Eph. 1:9; 3:3-6, 3:9;       Col. 1:26-27). In the practical sections they both speak of “putting of the old man” ( Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9) and “putting on the new man” ( Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). Both deal with the “walk” of the Christian (Eph. 4:1; 5:2, 5:8, 5:15; Col. 3:7) with giving of thanks in praise and song ( Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:16-17). There is similarity in instruction of wives and husbands ( Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18-19), though the passage in Ephesians is fuller than that in Colossians, children and parents ( Eph. 6:1-4; Col. 3:20-21), and slaves and masters ( Eph. 6:5-9; Col. 3:22-4:1). In the writer’s request for prayer for himself, there is in both letters a reference to his bonds, to the mystery of the gospel to be made known ( Eph. 6:18-20; Col. 4:3-4), and there is a similarity also in references to the apostle’s commission to make known the mystery of the gospel (Eph. 3:2-3, 3:8-9; Col. 1:23-29). These parallels cannot be coincidental, but can be only explained by assuming the same person wrote both letters and that he had the same thoughts at that time.

B.  The messanger who delivered the letter to the Ephesians was Tychicus, whom Onesimus accompanied ( Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7-9).

V.  The purpose of writing:

A.  Its purpose is “the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God,

B.  to a complete man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,

C.  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by cunning of men, …” (Eph. 4:13-14).

D.  Though not explicitly identified, the “every wind of doctrine” is a reference to the doctrines of gnosticism and Hellenistic mysticism. Paul uses the terminology of gnosticism to counter and correct those doctrines, such as, “mystery” (musterion), “knowledge” (gnosis), and “wisdom” (sophia) (Eph. 1:9, 1:17; 3:3-5, 3:9-10). Gnosticism taught salvation by knowledge of the mystery that the principalities and powers in heavenly places formed the world by emanations and controlled the lives of human beings. Paul puts these principalities and powers in their proper place as defeated by and under Christ ( Eph. 1:20-23; 3:9-10; 4:9-10; 6:11-12).

VI.  The character of the letter.
There is no reference to any specific person in the church at Ephesus, and deals with no specific problem in the church. It was an encyclical letter to be circulated among the churches in the province of Asia through the church at Ephesus.

VII.  The fundamental theme:

A.  The fundamental theme of Ephesians is the church (Eph. 1:22-23; 2:16-22; 3:6, 3:10; 4:4-6, 4:12, 4:16; 5:28-32). The church, the body of Christ, is the people of God, the community that was created by God to be the dwelling place of His Spirit                           ( Eph. 2:21-22).

B.  The sovereign purpose of God in eternity was the redemption ( Eph. 1:4-7) and salvation by the grace of God (Eph. 2:5, 2:8) that created the church (Eph. 1:20-23; 2:13-16).

VIII.  Basic presuppositions of Paul’s thinking:

A.  Salvation by grace of God through faith (Eph. 2:5, 2:8).

B.  This salvation is the gift of God, not from ourselves, not by works ( Eph. 2:9).

C.  God accomplished this salvation by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:7, 1:20; 2:6, 2:13).