Ephesians Series: Introduction-Canonicity of Ephesians

During his second missionary journey which took place between 49-52 A.D., Paul stopped at Ephesus.

He was urged to stay by the Ephesians but declined.

Aquila and Priscilla as well as Timothy continued the work of the Lord in Ephesus according to Acts 18:18-21 while Paul sailed to Antioch.

However, Paul returned to Ephesus during his third missionary journey and stayed there for three years according to Acts 20:31.

From there he went to Jerusalem where many Jews zealous for the law attempted to kill him because they erroneously assumed that he brought Trophimus, an Ephesian Gentile into the inner temple courts (Acts 21:29).

However, the Romans intervened and thus sparing his life.

However, as a result, he was imprisoned in Caesarea for two years (cf. Acts 21:15-26:32).

Eventually, he was sent to Rome as a result of appealing his case to Caesar, which he had the right to do because he was a Roman citizen.

He remained under house arrest for another two years before his release (Acts 27:1-28:31).

This incarceration took place between 60-62 A.D.

This period of Paul’s life is identified by expositors and scholars as his “first Roman imprisonment.”

During which time, he wrote the epistle to the Ephesians.

This is indicated by three references in this epistle to his imprisonment (cf. Eph. 3:1; 4:1; 6:20).

Throughout the church’s history, Ephesians along with Colossians, Philippians and Philemon have been identified as Paul’s “prison epistles.”

Like Colossians and Philemon, Tychicus delivered this epistle to the Ephesians which is indicated by the contents of Ephesians 6:21.

As we will note, although it was addressed to the Ephesians, this epistle appears to be a circular letter in the sense that it was intended to be read by not only the Christian community in Ephesus but also it was to be read by the many house churches throughout the Roman province of Asia, which is now called Turkey.

Many years later after the death of Paul, the apostle John’s first epistle was intended for these same churches and was thus a circular letter as well like Ephesians.

The absence of personal greetings and specific issues and conditions supports the idea that the Ephesian epistle is a circulatory letter intended for all the various house churches in the Roman province of Asia.

We would expect that Paul’s lengthy stay in Ephesus would prompt him to send personal greetings in this epistle, however this is not the case.

Though Paul never mentions any specific problem or problems taking place within the Christian community in this epistle, it can be inferred from the contents of the letter that he was concerned that the Christian community remained united experientially through practice of the command to love one another and all that which is involved when obeying this command.

This is indicated by the fact that in chapter four, Paul opens the practical application of his teaching in chapters two and three by commanding the recipients of the letter to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in Ephesians 4:3.

Peter O’Brien writes “The Letter to the Ephesians is one of the most significant documents ever written. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it ‘the divinest composition of man’. This letter was John Calvin’s favourite, and J. Armitage Robinson later described it as ‘the crown of St Paul’s writings’.[1]F. F. Bruce regarded it as ‘the quintessence of Paulinism’ because it ‘in large measure sums up the leading themes of the Pauline letters, and sets forth the cosmic implications of Paul’s ministry as apostle to the Gentiles’.[2]Among the Pauline writings, Raymond Brown claimed, only Romans could match Ephesians ‘as a candidate for exercising the most influence on Christian thought and spirituality’.”[3]”[4]

Grant Osborne writes “Ephesians is one of the most difficult books in the New Testament. The material, dealing with the mystery of the gospel, the exalted nature of Christ, the apocalyptic events of the last days, and the spiritual warfare against the powers of darkness, boggles the mind. The sentences are complex, the background elusive to uncover, and the theological issues discussed as deep as any in Scripture.”5

Harold Hoehner writes “The letter to the Ephesians has long been a favorite among Christians over the centuries. It contains the leading themes of Pauline literature, and it expresses Paul’s motive for his ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. The ideas in Ephesians represent the crown of Paulinism (Dodd 1929:1224–1225) or the ‘quintessence of Paulinism’ (Bruce 1967:303). The book of Ephesians, presenting an exalted view of the church and its relationship to the exalted Christ, contributed richly to the first-century believers’ understanding of eternal truths. Its message is just as rich and relevant to today’s church.”6

We begin our introduction by noting the “canonicity” of the Ephesian epistle.

In other words, did the Christian community regard this epistle as inspired by God or not and if so, how soon was it acknowledged as being inspired by God?

The term “canon” or “canonicity” in Christianity refers to a collection of many books acknowledged or recognized by the early church as inspired by God.

Canonicity is actually determined by God.

In other words, a book is not inspired because men determined or decreed that it was canonical.

Rather it is canonical because God inspired it.

It was not the Jewish people who determined what should be in their Old Testament and it was not the Christian community that determined which Christian literary works would be in the New Testament canon.

Therefore, inspiration determines canonization.

Canonicity is determined authoritatively by God and this authority is simply recognized by His people.

Now, there is no record of the early church questioning the canonicity of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians.

The disputes about the letter were only pertaining to its destination since some claimed it was originally destined for Laodicea.

Clement of Rome appears to have referred to this letter (1 Clem. 2:1; cf. Eph. 5:31; 1 Clem. 36:2; cf. Eph. 1:18; 1 Clem. 46:4; cf. Eph. 4:4-6) as well as Polycarp (Ad Phil 1:3; cf. Eph. 2:8, 9; Ad Phil 36:2; cf. Eph. 4:26).

Origin considered it as inspired by God and quoted from it (De Princ 2.3.5; 2.11.5; 3.5.4) and so did Clement of Alexandria (Paed 1:5) and Tertullian (Adv Marc 5.4.17).

It is found in two of the earliest lists or canons.

First, it appears Marcion’s Instrumentum (140 A.D.) who identified it as the epistle to the “Laodiceans.”

Secondly, it appears in the Muratorian canon.

Interestingly, as Skevington Wood points out, the one who compiled this list asserts that Paul imitated John in writing by name to the seven churches, namely Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, Galatia, Thessalonica and Rome.[5]

Eusebius of Caesarea categorized Ephesians as homologoumenaor one of the “acknowledged” books.

Athanasius listed it as one of the accepted books in the churches of the Roman empire.

The epistle to the Ephesians appears in P46, which is one of the earliest manuscripts, which is usually dated by textual critics as written in approximately 200 A.D.

Therefore, no serious doubts about the letter’s authenticity have come down to us from the church fathers.

[1] Robinson, vii. [2] F. F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Free Spirit (Exeter: Paternoster, 1977), 424. Bruce used the expression ‘the quintessence of Paulinism’, originally coined by A. S. Peake, in his lecture ‘St. Paul in Rome. 4. The Epistle to the Ephesians’, BJRL 49 (1967), 303. [3] R. E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (New York/London: Doubleday, 1997), 620. [4] O’Brien, P. T. (1999). The letter to the Ephesians(pp. xxxiv – 1). W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 5 Osborne, G. R. (2017). Ephesians: Verse by Verse (p. 1). Lexham Press. 6 Hoehner, H. W., Comfort, P. W., & Davids, P. H. (2008). Cornerstone biblical commentary: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, Philemon. (Vol. 16, p. xiv). Tyndale House Publishers. [5] Wood, Skevington, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1, 2 Thessalonians, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon); page 20; Zondervan Corporation; Grand Rapids, MI 1978.