Ephesians Introduction-Place of Origin, Date and Literary Genre
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday January 31, 2023
Ephesians Series: Introduction-Place of Origin, Date and Literary Genre
Lesson # 4
The traditional view of the church is that Ephesian epistle was written while Paul was under house arrest in Rome awaiting his appeal before Caesar.
This view went unchallenged for eighteen centuries.
However, in modern times, there are those who dissent.
Two locales have been put forth by scholars, namely Ephesus and Caesarea.
The burden of proof rests with an Ephesus and Caesarea origin since church tradition holds to Paul writing Philemon and Colossians while under house arrest in Rome.
A critical factor in a Roman origin of this epistle is that Luke is with Paul during his imprisonment (see Colossians 4:14; Philemon 24).
This is supported by Acts since it makes clear Paul’s Ephesian ministry does not occur in the “we” section of Acts.
The traditional view, that Paul was in Rome when he wrote Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, is still by far the best view because of the obvious connection between Colossians and Ephesians.
This is indicated by the fact that Tychicus is named the courier of both letters (cf. Col. 4:7-8; Eph. 6:21-22), thus both letters were written at the same place and time, namely during his first Roman imprisonment, which we noted took place from approximately 60-62 A.D.
Paul had two Roman imprisonments: (1) A.D. 60-62: Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon (2) A.D. 68: 2 Timothy, Hebrews.
The apostle Paul wrote Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon during his first Roman imprisonment while he was awaiting his appeal before Caesar and he was actually permitted to have his own rented quarters in Rome with a Roman soldier guarding him (See Acts 28).
Ephesians 3:1 and 4:1 make it very clear that Paul was incarcerated while writing this epistle.
Traditionally, the church has considered Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians as written by Paul during his first Roman imprisonment, which we noted previously, took place between 60-62 A.D.
This is indicated by the inference from the contents of Acts 27-28.
The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians according to the pattern of letter writing found in the ancient world during the first century called the “epistle.”
The epistle is among the oldest forms of communication.
In fact, the epistle is among the oldest and most abundantly preserved types of texts that we have today from the ancient world.
These extant documents are extremely important to us today for historical, literary and biblical research.
The Babylonian royalty employed epistolary communication as far back as 2275 B.C.
The Egyptians used this form of written communication extensively as evidenced by remains from the second Millennium B.C.
Akkadian letters have been found on potsherds and clay tablets.
The greatest epistolary activity occurs during the Greco-Roman period.
The Greek language was diversified into various dialects such as Aeolic, Doric, Ionic, Attic, but yet mutually intelligible.
Eventually, all of these dialects were joined into one “common” language, the Koine Greek, which Alexander the Great spread throughout the rest of the world which he had conquered.
The Romans spoke Latin but very much influenced by the Greeks and their culture.
In fact, the Roman Empire at its height spoke primarily Koine Greek.
The Romans wrote their Law in Latin but their literary prose was in Greek.
Paul’s letters in the New Testament generally followed the same pattern of letter writing found in the first and second centuries.
His introduction found in Colossians follows exactly the formula of this period.
The structure of Ephesians is written according to the pattern of letter writing found in the ancient world during the first century.
The general form of a first century letter contained the following elements: (1) The author identifies himself (2) The author identifies the recipient (3) The greeting (4) Main body of the epistle (5) Closing greeting (usually a simple word wishing the recipient good health) (6) Final signature of endorsement by the writer of the letter.
The final signature of endorsement authenticated the letter’s contents and served as protection against fraudulent correspondence.
The final signature was also important because frequently an amanuensis was employed to write the letter.
The epistolary structure of Ephesians is as follows: (1) Identification of the author (Eph. 1:1a) (2) Identification of the recipients of the letter (3) Body of the letter (1:3-6:20) (4) Closing (6:21-24).