《The Biblical Illustrator – Ephesians (Ch.0~2a)》(A Compilation)

General Introduction

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00 Overview

EPHESIANS

INTRODUCTION

Destination of the Epistle

The first and most important inquiry connected with the Epistle to the Ephesians has reference to the persons to whom it was originally addressed; and this inquiry again depends so much upon the reading of the first verse of the Epistle that, before proceeding further, it is necessary to determine as far as possible what that reading is. In the A.V. the Epistle opens with the words, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” “At Ephesus” is the expression in dispute. The two words are omitted by the first hand of the Vatican (B)and Sinaitic ( א)MSS., and by the second hand of 67, a cursive MS. of the twelfth century, whose corrected text Griesbach considered much more valuable than the text as it originally stood; but they are found in all ether MSS. and versions. Strong as is the evidence arising from the combination of the Vatican and Sinaitic MSS., it would be difficult to resist the singular amount of authority opposed to them, were it not for passages from writers and fathers earlier than the earliest of our existing MSS., which show that the absence of the words was not only known to them, but was so far accepted, as at least probably correct, that they made it a ground of curious speculation with regard to the particular method of designating Christians then employed by the Apostle … It is clear that in the first half of the second century there were MSS. in circulation which did not read the words “at Ephesus”; and that, during the fourth century, MSS. then considered “ancient,” which also omitted them, were at least regarded as highly authoritative by distinguished men. (Prof. W. Milligan.)

I should not think it impossible that the Epistle to the Ephesians, as originally written, may have contained a postscript chapter of private salutations like that which ends the Epistle to the Romans, and that this postscript was not copied when the Epistle was transcribed for the use of other Churches. But another, and more common explanation is, that the Epistle to the Ephesians was a circular not written to that Church exclusively. Certain it is, some of the most ancient copies omitted the words ἐν εφέσῳ in the inscription. Origen, e.g., read the saints” that are,” and explained τοὶς οὖσιν as the saints which are really so; and in this he is followed by St. Basil. And the omission of Ephesus is found in some very ancient MSS. at this day. But since this rendering is extremely improbable, Archbishop Ussher conjectured that the original letter was a circular, containing after the words “the saints that are” a blank for the name of the Church addressed. (Prof. G. Salmon.)

But is there any trace of such a circular letter? That there was an “Epistle from Laodicea,” to be read by the Colossians, we know; and the context shows conclusively that this was an epistle of St. Paul himself. Laodicea was near Colossae, and evidently in close union with it. The special warnings of the letter addressed to the Colossian Church were probably applicable to it also, and accordingly it was to be read there. But why should Colossae read the “Epistle from Laodicea”? Had it dealt with the peculiar needs of that sister Church this would be inexplicable; but if it were what our Epistle is--general in character, and dealing with a truth not identical with the main truth of the Colossian Epistle, but supplementary to it--then the direction is intelligible at once. It is not (it will be observed) an “Epistle to the Laodiceans,” but an Epistle “coming from Laodicea,” which would be reached from Ephesus before Colossae, and which, being the larger and more important town, might naturally be made the recipient of a letter intended for it and Colossae, and perhaps Hierapolis. It may be asked, If this be so, why have no MSS. any other address than to the “saints at Ephesus”? and why has tradition invariably called this “The Epistle to the Ephesians,” and nothing else? The answer which has been often given appears to be entirely sufficient. Ephesus was, as the metropolis of Asia, the natural centre of the apostolic ministry, and the natural leader of the Asiatic Churches: standing, as in the apocalyptic epistles (Revelation 1:11), at the head of all. Here the Epistle would be first read; thence it would go out to the other Asiatic Churches; there it would be best treasured up, and copies of it multiplied; and through these it would be likely to become known to the European Churches also. It must have been quoted by some title. What title so natural as “To the Ephesians”?(A. Barry, D. D.)

The three contemporaneous Epistles were conveyed to Asia by Tychicus and Onesimus, Onesimus carrying the letter to his master Philemon, and Tychicus being entrusted with the Epistle addressed specially to the Colossians, and with a circular or encyclical letter, which he was to take first to Ephesus, and then to the various cities of Asia in which St. Paul had formed Churches during his three years’ residence at Ephesus. One copy of this Epistle was headed “To the saints that are at Ephesus”; the others, “To the saints that are … ” the lacuna having to be filled up by Tychicus, either by word of mouth or with the pen, in each city wherein he read or delivered up the epistle. (F. Meyrick, M. A.)

Ephesus

The most noticeable points in relation to Ephesus would be the following:

1. It was the capital of proconsular Asia. Yet a free city, with municipal government of its own.

2. It was the centre of the worship of Artemis. The temple, as rebuilt after being burnt by Herostratus in B.C. 356, was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It stood at the head of the harbour, on a site recently discovered by Mr. J.T. Wood.

3. Special games, with a religious character, were held (though not always at Ephesus) in the month of May. They were presided over by “Asiarchs” (Acts 19:31), supposed to have been ten in number, though one took the lead, acting as president of the colleges. The Asiarch or Asiarchs bore the cost, and had the direction of the games. He also acted as “High Priest” of the province.

4. Ephesus was famous for the practice of magic (Acts 19:11; Acts 19:19). ἐφεσια γράμματα, orformulae of exorcism written on tablets and worn as amulets, were proverbial.

5. Its position made Ephesus a great commercial emporium. “Of the three great river basins of Western Asia Minor--those of the Hermus, Cayster, and Maeander--it commanded the second, and had ready access by easy passes to the other two, besides being the natural port and landing place for Sardes, the capital of the Lysian kings.” We may note the number of sea voyages to or from Ephesus described or hinted at in the Acts and Epistles.

6. Like Alexandria and Antioch, Ephesus was a meeting place for the thought of East and West. It was probably here that St. John became familiar with the philosophical terminology of which he made use in his Gospel. Here, too, was the residence of Cerinthus, and one of the strongholds of early Gnosticism. (Prof. W. Sanday.)

Ephesus, constituted the capital of proconsular Asia in B.C. 129, had been the scene of successful labour on the part of the Apostle. On his first and hurried visit to it, during his second missionary tour, his earnest efforts among his countrymen made such an impression and created such a spirit of inquiry, that they besought him to prolong his sojourn (Acts 18:19-21). But the pressing obligation of a religious vow compelled his departure, and he “sailed from Ephesus” under the promise of a speedy return, but left behind him Priscilla and Aquila, with whom the Alexandrian Apollos was soon associated. On his second visit, during his third missionary circuit, he stayed for at least two years and three months, or three years, as he himself names the term in his parting address at Miletus (Acts 20:31). The Apostle felt that Ephesus was a centre of vast influence--a key to the western provinces of Asia Minor. If writing from this city to the Church at Corinth, when he speaks of his resolution to remain in it, he gives as his reason--“for a great door and effectual is opened unto me” (1Corinthians 16:9). The gospel seems to have spread with rapidity, not only among the native citizens of Ephesus, but among the numerous strangers who landed on the quays of the Panormus and crowded its streets. It was the highway into Asia from Rome; its ships traded with the ports of Greece, Egypt, and the Levant; and the Ionian cities poured their inquisitive population into it at its great annual festival in honour of Diana. Ephesus had been visited by many illustrious men, and on very different errands. It had passed through many vicissitudes in earlier times, and had through its own capricious vacillations been pillaged by the armies of rival conquerors in succession; but it was now to experience a greater revolution, for no blood was spilt; and at the hands of a mightier hero, for truth was his only weapon. Cicero is profuse in his compliments to the Ephesians for the welcome which they gave him as he landed at their harbour on his progress to his government of Cilicia; but the Christian herald met with no such ovation when he entered their city. So truculent and unscrupulous was the opposition which he at last encountered, that he tersely styles it “fighting with wild beasts at Ephesus,” and a tumultuous and violent outrage which endangered his life hastened his ultimate departure. Scipio, on the eve of the battle of Pharsalia, had threatened to take possession of the vast sums hoarded up in the Temple of Diana, and Mark Anthony had exacted a nine years’ tax in a two years’ payment; but Paul and his colleagues were declared on high authority “not to be robbers of churches”: for their object was to give and not to extort, yea, as he affirms, to circulate among the Gentiles “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” The Ephesians had prided themselves in Alexander, a philosopher and mathematician, and they fondly surnamed him the “Light”; but his teaching had left the city in such spiritual gloom, that the Apostle was obliged to say to them, “ye were sometimes darkness”; and himself was the first unshaded luminary that rose on the benighted province. The poet Hipponax was born at Ephesus, but his caustic style led men to call him ὁ πικός, “the bitter,” and one of his envenomed sayings was, “There are two happy days in a man’s life, the one when he gets his wife, and the other when he buries her.” How unlike the genial soul of him of Tarsus, whose spirit so often dissolved in tears, and who has in “the well-couched words” of this Epistle honoured, hallowed, and blessed the nuptial bond! The famed painter Parrhasius, another boast of the Ionian capital, has indeed received the high praises of Pliny and Quintilian, for his works suggested “certain canons of proportion,” and he has been hailed as a lawgiver in his art; but his voluptuous and self-indulgent habits were only equalled by his proverbial arrogance and conceit, for he claimed to be the recipient of Divine communications. On the other hand, the Apostle possessed a genuine revelation from on high--no dim and dreary impressions, but lofty, glorious, and distinct intuitions; nay, his writings contain the germs of ethics and legislation for the world; but all the while he rated himself so low, that his self-denial was on a level with his humility, for he styles himself, in his letter to the townsmen of Parrhasius, “less than the least of all saints.” During his abode at Ephesus, the Apostle prosecuted his work with peculiar skill and tact. The heathen forms of worship were not vulgarly attacked and abused, but the truth in Jesus was earnestly and successfully demonstrated and carried to many hearts; so that when the triumph of the gospel was so soon felt in the diminished sale of silver shrines, the preachers of a spiritual creed were formally absolved from the political crime of being “blasphemers of the goddess.” The toil of the preacher was incessant. He taught “publicly and from house to house” (Acts 20:20). He went forth “bearing precious seed, weeping”; for “day and night” he warned them “with tears.” What ardour, earnestness, and intense aspiration; what a profound agitation of regrets and longings stirred him when “with many tears” he testified “both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”! By his assiduous labour the Apostle founded and built up a large and prosperous Church. “The fierce and prolonged opposition which he encountered from many adversaries” (1Corinthians 16:9), and the trials which befell him through “the lying in wait of the Jews” (Acts 20:19), grieved, but did not alarm, his dauntless heart. The school of Tyrannus became the scene of daily instruction and argument, and amidst the bitter railings and maledictions of the Jews, the masses of the heathen population were reached, excited, and brought within the circle of evangelical influence. (J. Eadie, D. D.)

The genuineness of the Epistle

“Among the letters which bear the name of Paul,” says Renan, “the Epistle to the Ephesians is perhaps the one of which there are most early quotations, as the composition of the Apostle of the Gentiles.” On internal grounds Renan has serious doubts as to the Pauline origin of this Epistle, and he throws out the idea that it may have been written under the Apostle’s directions by Timothy, or some other of his companions; but he owns that the external evidence in its favour is of the highest character. It is a matter of course to say that it is recognized by Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and in the Muratorian Fragment. The fact that it was among the Pauline Epistles owned by Marcion makes it unnecessary to cite authorities later than 140. There is what seems to me a distinct use of the Epistle by Clement of Rome; for when he exhorts to unity by the plea, “Have we not one God, and one Christ, and one Spirit of grace poured out upon us, and one calling in Christ?” I cannot think the resemblance merely accidental to “one Spirit,” “one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4:4). There can be no doubt of the use of the Ephesians in what is called the Second Epistle of Clement; but though I think this is certainly older than the age of Irenaeus, I do not know whether it is older than that of Marcion. The recognition of the Ephesians in the letter of Ignatius to the same Church is beyond doubt. He addresses the Ephesians as πάλου συμμύσται, a phrase recalling Ephesians 3:3-4; Ephesians 3:9, and goes on to say how Paul makes mention of them, ἐν πάσῃ ἐπιστολή, a puzzling expression, which obliges us to put some force on the grammar if we translate “in all his Epistle,” or on the facts if we translate “in every Epistle.” The recognition of our Epistle is express in the one case, probable in the other. There are other phrases in the Ignatian letters which remind us of the Epistle to the Ephesians, of which I only mention his direction to Polycarp to exhort the brethren to love their wives, even as the Lord the Church (Ephesians 5:25; Ephesians 5:29). Polycarp’s own letter refers to words of Scripture, “Be ye angry, and sin not,” and “Let not the sun go down on your wrath,” the former sentence being, no doubt, ultimately derived from Psalms 4:5, but only found in connection with the latter in Ephesians 4:26. Hermas more than once shows his knowledge of the text, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God” (4:30)…. What, then, are the reasons why it is sought to reject so weighty a mass of external evidence? You will, perhaps, be surprised to hear that one of the chief is the great likeness of this Epistle to the Epistle to the Colossians. The fact of the close affinity of the two letters is indisputable, but the explanation which Paley gave of it is perfectly satisfactory, namely, that in two letters, written about the same time on the same subject by one person to different people, it is to be expected that the same thoughts will be expressed in nearly the same words. Now the Epistle to the Ephesians is specially tied to that to the Colossians by the fact that both letters purport to have been carried by the same messenger, Tychicus, the paragraph concerning whom is nearly the same in both (Ephesians 6:21-22; Colossians 4:7-8). That the letters which the Apostle wrote to be sent off by the same messenger to different Churches should be full of the same thoughts, and those thoughts frequently expressed in the same phrases, is so very natural, that instead of the mutual similarity deserving to count as an objection to the genuineness of either, this correspondence of the character of the letters, with the traditional account of the circumstances of their origin, ought to reckon as a strong confirmation of the correctness of that account. (Prof. G. Salmon.)