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Introduction
to Ephesians
This summary of the book of Ephesians provides information about
the title
author(s)
date of writing
chronology
theme
theology
outline
a
brief overview
and the chapters of the Book of Ephesians.
The author identifies himself as Paul (1:1; 3:1; cf. 3:7
13; 4:1; 6:19-20). Some have taken the absence of the
usual personal greetings and the verbal similarity of many parts to Colossians
among other reasons
as grounds for doubting authorship by the apostle Paul.
However
this was probably a circular letter
intended for other churches in addition
to the one in Ephesus (see notes on 1:1
15; 6:21-23). Paul may have written it about the
same time as Colossians
c. a.d. 60
while he was in prison at Rome (see 3:1; 4:1; 6:20; see also chart
p. 2261).
Ephesus was the most important city in western Asia Minor (now
Turkey). It had a harbor that at that time opened into the Cayster River (see
map
p. 2429)
which in turn emptied into the Aegean Sea (see map
p. 2599).
Because it was also at an intersection of major trade routes
Ephesus became a
commercial center. It boasted a pagan temple dedicated to the Roman goddess
Diana (Greek Artemis);
cf. Ac 19:23-31. Paul made Ephesus a center for
evangelism for about three years (see note on Ac 19:10)
and the church there
apparently flourished for some time
but later needed the warning of Rev 2:1-7.
Unlike several of the other letters Paul wrote
Ephesians does not
address any particular error or heresy. Paul wrote to expand the horizons of
his readers
so that they might understand better the dimensions of God's
eternal purpose and grace and come to appreciate the high goals God has for the
church.
The letter opens with a sequence of statements about God's
blessings
which are interspersed with a remarkable variety of expressions
drawing attention to God's wisdom
forethought and purpose. Paul emphasizes
that we have been saved
not only for our personal benefit
but also to bring
praise and glory to God. The climax of God's purpose
"when the times will
have reached their fulfillment
" is to bring all things in the universe
together under Christ (1:10). It is crucially important that Christians
realize this
so in 1:15-23 Paul prays for their understanding (a
second prayer occurs in 3:14-21).
Having explained God's great goals for the church
Paul proceeds
to show the steps toward their fulfillment. First
God has reconciled
individuals to himself as an act of grace (2:1-10). Second
God has reconciled these saved
individuals to each other
Christ having broken down the barriers through his
own death (2:11-22). But God has done something even beyond
this: He has united these reconciled individuals in one body
the church. This
is a "mystery" not fully known until it was revealed to Paul (3:1-6). Now Paul is able to state even more
clearly what God has intended for the church
namely
that it be the means by
which he displays his "manifold wisdom" to the "rulers and
authorities in the heavenly realms" (3:7-13). It is clear through the repetition of
"heavenly realms" (1:3
20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12) that Christian existence is not merely on
an earthly plane. It receives its meaning and significance from heaven
where
Christ is exalted at the right hand of God (1:20).
Nevertheless
that life is lived out on earth
where the practical
daily life of the believer continues to work out the purposes of God. The
ascended Lord gave "gifts" to the members of his church to enable
them to minister to one another and so promote unity and maturity (4:1-16). The unity of the church under the
headship of Christ foreshadows the uniting of "all things in heaven and on
earth" under Christ (1:10). The new life of purity and mutual
deference stands in contrast to the old way of life without Christ (4:17 -- 6:9). Those who are "strong in the
Lord" have victory over the evil one in the great spiritual conflict
especially through the power of prayer (6:10-20; see note on 1:3).
I.
Greetings (1:1-2)
A.
Salvation of Individuals by Grace (2:1-10)
V.
Practical Ways to Fulfill God's Purpose in the Church (4:1;6:20)
VI.
Conclusion
Final Greetings and Benediction (6:21-24)
──《New
International Version》
Introduction to Ephesians
The epistle to the Ephesians gives us the richest
exposition of the blessings of the saints individually
and of the assembly
setting forth at the same time the counsels of God with regard to the glory of
Christ. Christ Himself is viewed as the One who is to hold all things united in
one under His hand
as Head of the assembly. We see the assembly placed in the
most intimate relationship with Him
as those who compose it are with the
Father Himself
and in the heavenly position dispensed to her by the sovereign
grace of God. Now these ways of grace to her reveal God Himself
and in two
distinct characters; as well in connection with Christ as with Christians. He
is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the God of Christ
when
Christ is looked at as man; the Father of Christ when Christ is looked at as
the Son of His love. In the first character the nature of God is revealed; in
the second
we see the intimate relationship which we enjoy to Him who bears
this character of Father
and that according to the excellence of Christ's own
relationship to Him. It is this relationship to the Father
as well as that in
which we stand to Christ as His body and His bride
that is the source of
blessing to the saints and to the assembly of God
of which grace has made us
members as a whole.
The form even of the epistle shews how much the apostle's mind was
filled with the sense of the blessing that belongs to the assembly. After
having [1] at
Ephesus from God
the Father of true Christians
and from Jesus Christ their
Lord
he begins at once to speak of the blessings in which all the members of
Christ participate. His heart was full of the immensity of grace; and nothing
in the state of the Ephesian Christians required any particular remarks adapted
to that state. It is nearness of heart to God that produces simplicity
and
that enables us in simplicity to enjoy the blessings of God as God Himself
bestows them
as they flow from His heart
in all their own excellence-to enjoy
them in connection with Him who imparts them
and not merely in a mode adapted
to the state of those to whom they are imparted; or through a communication
that only reveals a part of these blessings
because the soul would not be able
to receive more. Yes
when near to God
we are in simplicity
and the whole
extent of His grace and of our blessings unfolds itself as it is found in Him.
It is important to remark two things here in passing:
first
that moral nearness to God
and communion with Him
is the only means of
any true enlargement in the knowledge of His ways and of the blessings which He
imparts to His children
because it is the only position in which we can
perceive them
or be morally capable of so doing; and
also
that all conduct
which is not suitable to this nearness to God
all levity of thought
which His
presence does not admit of
makes us lose these communications from Him and
renders us incapable of receiving them. (Compare John 14:21-23). Secondly
it
is not that the Lord forsakes us on account of these faults or this
carelessness; He intercedes for us
and we experience His grace
but it is no
longer communion or intelligent progress in the riches of the revelation of
Himself
of the fulness which is in Christ. It is grace adapted to our wants
an answer to our misery. Jesus stretches out His hand to us according to the
need that we feel-need produced in our hearts by the operation of the Holy
Ghost. This is infinitely precious grace
a sweet experience of His
faithfulness and love: we learn by this means to discern good and evil by
judging self; but the grace had to be adapted to our wants
and to receive a
character according to those wants
as an answer made to them; we have had to
think of ourselves.
In a case like this the Holy Ghost occupies us with
ourselves (in grace
no doubt)
and when we have lost communion with God
we
cannot neglect this turning back upon ourselves without deceiving and hardening
ourselves. Alas! the dealings of many souls with Christ hardly go beyond this
character. It is with all too often the case. In a word
when this happens the
thought of sin having been admitted into the heart
our dealings with the Lord
to be true must be on the ground of this sad admission of sin (in thought
at
least). It is grace alone which allows us again to have to do with God. The
fact that He restores us enhances His grace in our eyes; but this is not
communion. When we walk with God
when we walk after the Spirit without
grieving Him
He maintains us in communion
in the enjoyment of God
the
positive source of joy-of an everlasting joy. This is a position in which He
can occupy us-as being ourselves interested in all that interests Him-with all
the development of His counsels
His glory
and His goodness
in the Person of
Jesus the Christ
Jesus the Son of His love; and the heart is enlarged in the
measure of the objects that occupy it. This is our normal condition. This
in the
main
was the case with the Ephesians.
We have already remarked
that Paul was specially gifted
of God to communicate His counsels and His ways in Christ; as John was gifted
to reveal His character and life as it was manifested in Jesus. The result of this
particular gift in our apostle is naturally found in the epistle we are
considering. Nevertheless we
as being ourselves in Christ
find in it a
remarkable development of our relationships with God
of the intimacy of those
relationships
and of the effect of that intimacy. Christ is the foundation on
which our blessings are built. It is as being in Him that we enjoy them. We
thus become the actual and present object of the favour of God the Father
even
as Christ Himself is its object. The Father has given us to Him; Christ has
died for us
has redeemed
washed
and quickened us
and presents us
according
to the efficacy of His work
and according to the acceptance of His Person
before God His Father. The secret of all the assembly's blessing is
that it is
blessed with Jesus Himself; and thus-like Him
viewed as a man-is accepted
before God; for the assembly is His body
and enjoys in Him and by Him all that
His Father has bestowed on Him. Individually the Christian is loved as Christ
on earth was loved; he will hereafter share in the glory of Christ before the
eyes of the world
as a proof that he was so loved
in connection with the name
of Father
which God maintains in regard to this (see John 17:23-26). Hence in
general we have in this epistle the believer in Christ
not Christ in the
believer
though that of course be true. It leads up to the privileges of the
believer and of the assembly
more than to the fulness of Christ Himself
and
we find more the contrast of this new position with what we were as of the
world than development of the life of Christ: this is more largely found in
Colossians
which looks more at Christ in us. But this epistle
setting us in
Christ's relationship with God and the Father
and sitting in heavenly places
gives the highest character of our testimony here.
Now Christ stands in two relationships with God
His Father. He is a
perfect man before His God; He is a Son with His Father. We are to share both
these relationships. This He announced to His disciples ere He went back to
heaven: it is unfolded in all its extent by the words He spoke
"I go to
my Father and your Father
to my God and your God." This precious-this
inappreciable truth is the foundation of the apostle's teaching in this place.
He considered God in this double aspect
as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ
and as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and our blessings are in connection
with these two titles.
But before attempting to set forth in detail the
apostle's thought
let us remark that he begins here entirely with God
His
thoughts and His counsels
not with what man is. We may lay hold of the truth
so to speak
by one or the other of two ends-by that of the sinner's condition
in connection with man's responsibility
or by that of the thoughts and eternal
counsels of God in view of His own glory. The latter is that side of the truth
on which the Spirit here makes us look. Even redemption
all glorious as it is
in itself
is consigned to the second place
as the means by which we enjoy the
effect of God's counsels.
It was necessary that the ways of God should be
considered on this side
that is
His own thoughts
not merely the means of
bringing man into the enjoyment of the fruit of them. It is the epistle to the
Ephesians which thus presents them to us; as that to the Romans
after saying
it is God's goodness
begins with man's end
demonstrating the evil and
presenting grace as meeting and delivering from it.
[1] The
word translated "faithful" might be rendered "believers."
It is used as a term of superscription both here and in the epistle to the
Colossians. We must remember that the apostle was now in prison
and that
Christianity had been established for some years
and was exposed to all kinds
of attack. To say that one was a believer as at the beginning
was to say that
he was faithful. The word then does not merely express that they believed
nor
that each individual walked faithfully
but that the apostle addressed himself
to those who by grace faithfully maintained the faith they had received.
── John Darby《Synopsis of Ephesians》
Introduction to Ephesians
This epistle was written when St. Paul was a
prisoner at Rome. The design appears to be to strengthen the Ephesians in the
faith of Christ
and to give exalted views of the love of God
and of the
dignity and excellence of Christ
fortifying their minds against the scandal of
the cross. He shows that they were saved by grace
and that however wretched
they once were
they now had equal privileges with the Jews. He encourages them
to persevere in their Christian calling
and urges them to walk in a manner
becoming their profession
faithfully discharging the general and common duties
of religion
and the special duties of particular relations.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ephesians》
Ephesians General Review
AUTHOR: The apostle Paul (1:1; 3:1). Early sources in church history
that attribute this letter to Paul include: Irenaeus (200 A .D.)
Clement of Alexandria 200 A .D.)
and Origen (250 A .D.). Polycarp (125A.D.) attests to its canonicity in his own epistle to the Philippians(chapter 12). THE RECIPIENTS: There are reasons to believe that this epistle was not
designed for just one congregation
but intended to be passed around toseveral churches in the area surrounding Ephesus manuscripts do not contain the phrase "in Ephesus epistle itself is in the form of a general treatise rather than as aletter written to a specific church. For example
there are nospecific exhortations or personal greetings. It is thought by some(Conybeare and Howson) that this letter is the epistle that was firstsent to Laodicea churches
including Ephesus Ephesus the region
and the main center of Paul's missionary activity in thearea (cf. Ac 19:1
8-10)
it is understandable why later scribes mighthave assigned this epistle to the church at Ephesus it was intended for "the saints ...and faithful in Christ Jesus." (1:1)