Ephesians: one body in Christ

About the book

Ephesus, a great port of western Asia Minor famous for its temple of Artemis, was the chief city of the province of Asia. Paul taught there for nearly three years (Acts 20:31). When he wrote this letter he was "the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles" (Ephesians 3:1) and "an ambassador in chains" (Ephesians 6:20). The church has traditionally held that he wrote it while held in Rome, about AD 60–62 (Acts 28:30). Both this letter and Colossians say that Paul is sending Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21, Colossians 4:7-8), and the two are close in content and wording. It belongs to the map's era of the church (c. AD 30–90).

The letter opens in Paul's name (Ephesians 1:1), and the church received it as his from early times: the Muratorian Fragment, usually dated to the late second century, counts it among the letters Paul wrote to seven churches by name The Muratorian Fragment. Many scholars, though, think that a disciple of Paul wrote it in his name after his death. They point to its style, with sentences that run on and on, and words unlike those of his other letters; to its closeness to Colossians; and to its wider view of the church throughout the world. Many other scholars, among them evangelicals, who stress the authority of Scripture and the telling of the gospel, hold that Paul wrote it, as the letter says. Its nature, praise and prayer, its purpose for many churches, and the hand of a secretary, they say, explain the differences.

In some of the earliest manuscripts the words "in Ephesus" in 1:1 are missing. And to a church where he had spent nearly three years Paul writes that he has "heard about your faith" (Ephesians 1:15), and sends no personal greetings. So many scholars think it was meant to be passed among several churches of Asia; some think it is "the letter from Laodicea" that Colossians mentions (Colossians 4:16).

How it unfolds

Key passages

The letter opens with a long hymn of praise:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence.

Ephesians 1:3-4

The churches explain this choosing in different ways, but they agree that salvation begins with God (Grace and election). And it is grace from first to last:

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

Ephesians 2:8-10

Matthew Henry writes that "The grace that saves is the free, undeserved goodness and favour of God" Matthew Henry. That grace makes the divided one. Christ "Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility" (Ephesians 2:14), creating out of Jew and Gentile "one new man" (Ephesians 2:15).

So from chapter 4 Paul urges a life worthy of that calling, keeping the unity of the Spirit: "There is one body and one Spirit … one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all" (Ephesians 4:4-6). The Nicene Creed carries these words on when it confesses ‘one holy catholic and apostolic Church’ and ‘one baptism for the remission of sins’ Nicene Creed. On belonging to the church, see Belonging to a church, in the New Believers course. From 5:21 Paul speaks to wives and husbands, children and parents, slaves and masters; how the words to wives and husbands apply, churches understand differently (Does the Bible put women down?). At the last he says, "Put on the full armor of God" (Ephesians 6:11).

The book and Christ

God's purpose is "to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ" (Ephesians 1:10): the whole story, from creation to new creation, comes together in him. Gentiles were once "strangers to the covenants of the promise" (Ephesians 2:12); now, brought near by Christ's blood, they share in the promise given to Abraham and Israel (Ephesians 3:6).

Paul reads the Old Testament toward Christ. Psalm 68, which sings of God going up on high, he reads of Christ's ascension: "When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men" (Ephesians 4:8). He quotes Genesis on marriage and adds, "This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:32). The righteousness and salvation that God himself puts on as armour in Isaiah (Isaiah 59:17) become the armour of God for his people. As the risen Jesus explained himself from Moses and all the Prophets (Luke 24:27), Ephesians sees the Old Testament's promises and pictures in Christ and his church.

Reading it

A chapter a day takes six days; begin with Ephesians 1. Chapters 1–3 are praise and prayer, so read them slowly, as prayer, and notice the turn at 4:1, "As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you" (Ephesians 4:1), where the call to a new life begins. Read Colossians, its close twin, beside it, and Paul's farewell to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20. Then go on to Philippians.

Practice