Biblical scholars are divided over the authenticity of the epistle to the Ephesians: did Paul or someone else write it? Some maintain its Pauline authorship. Others consider it the work of a disciple of Paul. All agree there is a difference of tone and style from the other Pauline epistles.
If it is by Paul, Ephesians must date from his Roman imprisonment in the early 60s. If composed by a disciple of Paul’s (possibly a summary of his theology to accompany a collection of his writings), the epistle was likely written in Asia Minor towards the end of the first century.
The blessing with which Ephesians opens serves as an overture to the entire writing. In it the mystery of God’s saving plan is depicted in terms of the past (before time or creation existed), the Christian present (including what has been revealed in and by Christ) and the future (a pledge to Christians of inheriting God’s redemption):
“Before the foundation of the world God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless before Him in love.”
This mystery of God’s saving design also bears a Trinitarian stamp. The Father chose those who are redeemed in Christ and marked them “with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.”
Creation and redemption come together in Christ. In Him disciples become God’s adopted children.
The mystery Paul made known is that people have been chosen in Christ to be one. Moreover, all things find their “headship” (principle of unity) in Christ. This includes, Paul says, angelic orders as well as the human (“things in heaven and things on Earth”).
The most visible manifestation of God’s will lies in the union between Jews (“we have also obtained an inheritance”) and gentiles (“you also ... heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation”), which finds expression in the inclusive adjectival phrase “our (common) inheritance.”
Paul’s epistles and other later New Testament writings seize on examples from aspects of human society and life to help Christians understand Christ’s saving deed.
With the expression “reconciliation” the teaching of Ephesians stresses a powerful concept from the social or political sphere. The various Greek words used to describe God’s reconciling activity in Christ crucified and risen tell of a “change in relationships”: from anger, hostility and alienation to love, friendship and intimacy (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:19).
Earlier on, gentiles and Jews had been separated from each other by “a dividing wall.” Christ’s death broke it down so that He “might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross.” Through His “atoning” act, Christ became “our peace,” creating in Himself “atonement,” that is, “one new humanity.”
The challenge to believe underlies the summary of Christian life in Ephesians. Through Christ’s saving deed, “there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”
According to Ephesians, heeding the Spirit at work in one’s life is not a once-and-for-all happening, but an ongoing challenge: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.”
Christian discipleship has a two-fold dimension. Putting aside ways of life incompatible with following Jesus (“bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with malice”) and embracing those in keeping with it (“be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you”).
The covenant relation of most Christians is the loving commitment to their marriage partners. Paul’s advice to the Ephesians may strike some Christians as outdated or even troubling. Indeed, the exhortations of Paul (“wives, be subject to your husbands ... husbands, love your wives”) have been used to justify spousal abuse and other familial hurts.
These instructions, however, were a significant development in their day and have the potential to be a blessing today. The first epistle of Peter and the letters to the Ephesians and Colossians develop their culture’s fashion for “household codes” (instructions for spouses, children and parents, slaves and masters) by adding to them Christian motives (“as you are to the Lord” ... “just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her”).
Some people in the first century looked down on the body and devalued sexuality. But the spousal union is beautiful, Paul says, and each partner should love the other’s body as one’s own (“no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church”).
It is a message that challenges those today who would cheapen sexuality, marriage, life-long fidelity. As does Paul’s governing principle for both husbands and wives, “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J. is a noted Scripture scholar and writer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fordham University, Master of Divinity and Doctor of Theology degrees from Toronto School of Theology and a Licentiate in Theology from Regis College. Archbishop Prendergast taught in Halifax at Atlantic School of Theology from 1975-1981, then was Rector of Toronto's Regis College from 1981-87 and Dean of Theology from 1991-1994. For 10 years he wrote a weekly column on Scripture for The Catholic Register.
Biblical scholars are divided over the authenticity of the epistle to the Ephesians: did Paul or someone else write it? Some maintain its Pauline authorship. Others consider it the work of a disciple of Paul. All agree there is a difference of tone and style from the other Pauline epistles.
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