Ephesians 3

In lieu of missing class, here is a translation of Ephesians 3 with some reflections and questions that enter my mind as I work through it. Full quiz credit for 1) a 100 word response to the overall piece and 2) 2 further comments in relation to the flow of discussion that ensues. All outsiders are welcome to participate as well (if you're nice :-). And of course
© Kenneth Schenck, 2008
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3:1-2 For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of the Christ on behalf of you Gentiles -- if indeed you have heard of the responsibility of the grace of God given to me toward you...
This verse effectively eliminates Ephesus as the only destination of this letter. You'll remember that the words "at Ephesus" are missing from the earliest manuscripts of Ephesians in 1:1. But this comment in 3:1 effectively eliminates Ephesus at least as the sole destination, at least within Paul's lifetime. Paul spent nearly three years there according to Acts. If it were written to Ephesus, there would be no question whether they had heard of Paul's ministry to the Gentiles.

So we should understand Ephesians as something other than a situational letter to the believers at Ephesus. The most likely options are 1) Ephesians is a circular letter, perhaps to churches in Asia, of which Ephesus is one, 2) Ephesians was written to some other location like Laodicea, now lost to history (cf. Col. 4:16), or 3) Ephesians is a pseudonymous letter, perhaps written in Asia Minor or Ephesus, and the "if indeed you have heard" is a "knowing comment"--the audience knows that Paul has been dead for some time and that this letter is meant to convey his basic thought on the unity of the church to them. No deception is involved.

3:3-4 ... according to revelation the mystery was made known to me, just as I wrote briefly to you before, with regard to which, if you read, you are able to know my understanding in the mystery of the Christ...
This comment is difficult if in fact we take Ephesians as a literal letter. To what previous letter would Paul refer? The mystery to which he refers is the inclusion of the Gentiles. Certainly Romans and Galatians have to do with the mystery of the inclusion. Colossians especially uses this language (cf. Col. 1:26). But is it likely that we are reading 2 Colossians here--especially if Colossae was destroyed ca. 61AD. And should we really think of Ephesians as 2 Romans or 2 Galatians? It is possible that Ephesians was written to the general area where Colossae was.

Our commentary, by Klyne Snodgrass, recognizes the difficulty and concludes that Paul is probably referring to an earlier part of this letter, Ephesians, probably 2:1-22 or possibly 1:9-10 (160). He admits that this makes 3:4 "unusual." If we must take Ephesians as a literal letter, then this is the option we must take.

Another option of course is that this comment refers to some of Paul's earlier writings in general and that the "you" here is not a specific audience but a "Scriptural you," by which I mean a you that treats Paul's earlier letters not as situational letters where the "you" are Thessalonians or Romans or Colossians but timeless "you's." Of course they are not really timeless "yous." They become "you's" as in the original audience of Ephesians reading the "you's" of Paul's earlier letters.

This is not exactly Goodspeed's hypothesis, that Ephesians was written as a cover letter to a collection of Paul's writings. That suggestion is way too speculative to prove. However, on this hypothesis, someone would be writing a kind of "Paul in a nutshell" epistle passing on selected aspects of Paul's legacy to a new generation, probably in Asia Minor. The previous writings would thus include letters like Colossians, but the specific "you" of the original letters now is expanded to include the later readers.

If we adopt the "Scriptural you" perspective on the text, we think of Romans, Galatians, and Colossians as Paul writing to us about the mystery of the fact that Gentiles are now included in the people of God.

3:5 ... [mystery] which in different generations was not made known to the sons of mortals as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,
As in 2:20, this reference to the apostles and prophets is curious for Paul to make. In 2:20, he says that the household of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone. It is not curious to us--nor would it have been to late first century Christians--to think of the church as built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

But it is more difficult, given Paul's earlier writings, to think of him saying that the household of God is built on the apostles, given that he hardly takes such a universal perspective on the household of God in his earlier writings nor does he "reach out" in this way to other apostles. If we take Paul himself as the author, surely apostles here refers not to the 12 apostles, but to all those like him who are engaged in apostolic work (cf. 1 Cor. 15).

Prophets must certainly refer to Christian prophets, not to the prophets of the Old Testament. The "now" in this verse makes that clear. Snodgrass agrees (161). Thus also the foundation of the household of God in 2:20 surely also speaks of NT prophets, as Snodgrass agrees (137).

If Ephesians is a later epistle, the comment would be less problematic. Looking back from the standpoint of the late first century, Paul's heir looks back and sees another layer beyond the foundation of Jesus Christ in 1 Cor. 3:11. Now there is the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the "deposit" (1 Tim. 6:20), all the more important because they are no longer here to bring the gospel directly.

For Christians today, the New Testament is the embodiment of the revelation by the Spirit to the apostles and prophets.

3:6-7 ... [it was revealed] that the Gentiles are heirs together and of the same body and fellow partakers of the gospel in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me according to the working of His power.
This is the content of the mystery, the inclusion of the Gentiles within the people of God. Paul saw himself as the apostle to the Gentiles, not to the Jews. Notice the grace language, which implies the gifting of a patron. Such gifts were undeserved but often included expectations in return, as in this case. Perhaps the focus in this case is more on the empowerment to do something for God than on the undeserved nature of the gifting.

Note that Paul/Paul heir calls himself a minister, a diakonos. Apparently this term did not yet refer to a fixed role of ministry.

3:8-9 To me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach the good news to the Gentiles, the incomprehensible riches of the Christ and to shed light on what the administration is of the mystery that has been hidden from the ages in the God who created all things.
The idea that Paul is the least of the saints is new. He was the last to become an apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:8 as one born at the wrong time. But now he is the least of the saints, and he will become the greatest sinner in 1 Timothy 1:15. Paul certainly could have said such things. I might mention that anyone who has sat through a time of testimony in a church knows that telling what an aweful sinner you used to be can be a badge of honor.

The gospel is for Gentiles too for, after all, God created all things, not just the Jews. The word "administration" is difficult. I translated it as "responsibility" above in 3:1. Perhaps that was a mistake. Does it simply mean "how it works."

3:10-11 ... in order that the wisdom of God might be made known now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies through the church, according to the purpose of the ages, which [God] enacted in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Note that God the Father was the creator in the previous verse and here it is also He that has done the planning about Christ. Ephesians makes no comment on Christ's pre-existence. This plan was of course from before the foundation of the world (e.g., 1:4). Interestingly, it is apparently through the church, perhaps through the apostles and prophets, that the spiritual rulers and authorities are learning about the wisdom of God, done through Jesus.

3:12 ... in whom we have boldness and entrance with confidence through his faithfulness. Therefore, I ask [you] not to be discouraged by my troubles for you, which is glory for you.
Especially if we think of Paul as the literal author but even if it is a Pauline secretary or heir, this verse strongly reinforces the understanding of the phrase "faith of Jesus" in Romans 3:22 and Galatians 2:16 as a reference to Jesus' faithfulness, meaning his faithful death.

The mention of the audience not being discouraged by Paul's troubles will convince most that Paul is the literal author of Ephesians. It is not impossible to account for on the interpretation that Ephesians is a presentation of Paul to a later audience. For one thing, the notion that Paul is suffering for the audience is probably built off of Colossians 1:24. As we've seen, scattered material of Ephesians parallels scattered material in Colossians in much the same order, including the 32 word for word identical stretch in Ephesians 6.

Remember that Snodgrass thinks Ephesians was produced not long after Colossians as a more general letter encouraging, uniting and informing all the believers in the same general area (23). It's a wonder he doesn't mention this when he is dealing with 3:3, because then Colossians could be the earlier letter to which Paul refers.

In any case, the idea of suffering on your behalf could presumably apply to a later audience just as to a contemporary one. In the US we easily could think of the "greatest generation" suffering for us during WW2, as with any other war.

3:14-16 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in the heavens and on the earth is named, in order that He might give to you according to the wealth of His glory to become strong in power through His Spirit in the inner person...
The picture here seems to be one of inheritance. First, God created everything so every being in the heavens or on the earth is His child, has His name. As His child, He wants to give as an inheritance the wealth of His glory. He wants everyone to become strong in power.

3:17-19 ... so that the Christ dwells in your hearts through faith, having been rooted and founded in love, in order that you might be strengthened to take hold with all the holy ones what is the width and length and heighth and depth, and to know the surpassing love of the knowledge of the Christ, in order that you might be filled to all the fulness of God...
Yum, yum. Somehow it seems the wrong tact to try to explain what these verses mean, as if their main point is cognitive or logical. This is good stuff that feels good!

3:20-21 ... and to the One who is able to do extra above all things about which we are asking or thinking, according to the power that is working in us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all the generations of the age of the ages! Amen.
That there's a doxology. The same highly exalted language used of the benefit to the church is now given to God. Once again, Ephesians is highly God centered rather than Christ centered. We glorify God in the church and in Christ Jesus.

OK, if you are in my Prison Epistles class, make one 100 word comment and then respond to at least two other comments in a substantial way.