Exegetical Research Paper

Research

WORK TO BE DONE:

See Barth’s NOTE on the word ‘equip’

See Barth’s 4th NOTE on v.16

Arnold, Clinton E. Ephesians. ZEC 10. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010.

Barth, Marcus. Ephesians 4-6. AB 34A. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974.

“Eph 4:11-13 is a locus classicus pointing out the coherence of the church’s origin, order, and destiny. Certain ministries are given by Christ (vs. 11) in order that the church fulfill her present task (vs. 12), at the end, reach the goal set for her (vs. 13). While the problems of vs. 13 will be discussed in the next COMMENT, those posed by vss.11-12 are to be considered here.” (478)

v. 12: “(1) the equipment of the saints; (2) the servant word; (3) the construction of Christ’s body. These three concepts may denote three distinct purposes—or they may be a triple definition of the one purpose that determines the ‘gift’ of the ministries mentioned in vss. 7,8, 11. The wording of the Greek text of vs. 12 does not permit a decision.” (478)

pros before ‘equipment’ and eis before ‘work of service’. (478). Does a comma exist before ‘saints’. “To equip the saints, into acts of service.” To separate the two, Barth argues, “The ministries have a double object: all the saints benefit from it, but only select ministers carry out the work of building the body,” as interpreted by Chrysostom, Theophylact, Thomas Aquinas, Calvin...” (479).

“This interpretation has an aristocratic, that is, a clerical and ecclesiastical flavor; it distinguishes the (mass of the) ‘saints’ from the (superior class of the) officers of the church. A clergy is now distinct from the laity, to whom the privilege and burden of carrying out the prescribed construction work are exclusively assigned. Certainly the needs of the laymen saints are cared for: they receive salvation, eternal life, ethical instructions through the saving word, the seal of the sacraments, the doctrinal decisions, the disciplinary measures administered by the officers. Yet two implications of this interpretation are inescapable: (1). the laymen are ultimately only beneficiaries, and (2) the benefits of the clergy’s work remain inside the church—though people and power outside the church may witness the clergy’s successes and failures.” (479).

“The meaning of 4:12 is entirely different when the nouns preceded by different prepositions describe one and the same purpose of the ministries mentioned in vs. 11, and when no comma is placed between the first two parts of vs. 12. Then the ministries of vs. 11 are given to the church in order that ‘the saints’ become ‘equipped’ to carry out ‘the work of service,’ even ‘the building.’” (479)… “Eph 4:12 may indeed underline the fact that the ‘saints’ are not a part of the church but all her members, without excluding any of them. All the saints (and among them, each saint) are enabled by the four or five types of servants enumerated in 4:11 to fulfill the ministry given to them, so that the whole church is taken into Christ’s service and given missionary substance, purpose and structure. This interpretation challenges both the aristocratic-clerical and the triumphalistic-ecclesiastical exposition of 4:11-12. It unmasks them as arbitrary distortions of the text.” (479)

GOOD QUESTION: “Are, therefore, the existence and function of a clergy simply dispensable? Indeed, the traditional distinction between clergy and laity does not belong in the church. Rather the whole church, the community of all the saints together, is the clergy appointed by God for a ministry to and for the world. This way two widespread opinions are refuted: the assumption that the bulk of the church members are reduced to the rank of mere consumers of spiritual gifts, and the notion that the church as a whole must strive primarily for a ‘build-up’ which benefits only herself.”

BARTH’S APPLICATION: “The dignity and usefulness of the special ministries given to the church are as great or as small as their effectiveness in making every church member, including the smallest and most despised, an evangelist in his own home and environment.” (480).

HOWEVER: “A decision between the two interpretations mentioned cannot be made by quibbling about such trifles as the change of prepositions or the appropriateness of a comma.” Must look at the greater context, which Barth argues is the second interpretation:

4:7: “Grace” is given to all the saints. Ephesians 4:7: “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” Philippians 2:12-13. “The term ‘to equip’ (lit. ‘for equipment’) corresponds to this essence and meaning of ‘grace.’” (480). “It’s not an infinitive!” Equipment is a noun. The noun “denotes preparation for a job rather than an object that can be possessed or handle.” (480).

4:13: “We all” is the subject. 4:16 “each single part.” See fourth NOTE “His interest is focussed upon the mutual contact of all members, not upon special members that reserve for themselves the function of joints.” (480).

I Corinthians 12: “Neither in I Corinthian s nor in Ephesians are higher and lower, official and non-official, active and primarily receptive (or passive) church members distinguished as different ranks. On the contrary, in I Cor 12:22-23 the weakest members of the church are declared the most important.” (480).

“One and the same spiritual armor is available to all the saints (6:10-17).” (480).

CONCLUSION: “In summary, the task of the special ministers mentioned in Eph 4:11 is to be servants in that ministry which is entrusted to the whole church. Their place is not above but below the great number of saints who are not adorned by resounding titles. .. He is a ‘pastor’ of God’s flock, who understands himself as a minister to ministers.” (481).

BUT, then Barth goes on to say that there are ‘needy’ people in the church. “Diverse books of the NT show that all ‘clerical’ titles available from Israel’s history and literature have been conferred up Jesus Christ and comprehended in him. If after Christ’s coming and under his rulership any legitimate clergymen are left in the world, then all saints and the whole church are these clergymen of God, installed for the benefit of those as yet unaware of the Messianic peace.” (481).

“All the saints have received the same ordination and made the same pledge to fulfill their share in the ministry entrusted to the church… The ordination mentioned in I Tim 4:14; 6:12; II Tim 1:6 may well refer to the conession and laying-on-of-hands connected with baptism rather than to an antecedent of a bishop’s consecration.” (481). In sum, baptism is ordination.

Application: The work of the pastor is to illustrate how all the saints ought to operate.

AT THE SAME TIME: “The resulting democratic character of the church does not obliterate the roles which specific servants must and may play within the church. Christ himself ‘appointed these to be apostles and those to be prophets, some to be evangelists and others to be teaching shepherds” (4:11).

APPLICATION: “These men work primarily by speaking.” (483). “Where there is no hearing there will be no obeying.” (483).

“This epistle emphasizes above all the necessity of hearing, believing, and spreading ‘the message that saves you.’ (1:13; 6:17-20).” 484

vs. 13:

Reach unity: Reach= “the goal of the movement is predetermined and/or highly desireable.” (485). The whole church is ‘reaching’ together. “One day the goal will be reached!” (485).

Come to meet (katantao): “Verb is sometimes used to describe the movement of a festival procession that is under way in solemn fashion for a solemn purpose. Those partaking in the cortege go out to meet a very important party bringing them bliss, joy, security, and peace.” (485).

Destination of the movement? Three terms:

‘the oneness of faith and knowledge of God’s Son’

‘The perfect man’

‘the measure of the stature of the Messiah’s fullness.’

Best, Earnest. Ephesians. ICC. Edinburgh: T&T Clark Ltd., 1998.

Fowl, Stephen F. Ephesians: A Commentary. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012.

Foulkes, Francis. Ephesians. TNTC. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989.

Gosnell, Peter W. “Networks and Exchanges: Ephesians 4:7-16 and the Community Function of Teachers.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 30, no. 4 (2000): 135–43. doi: 10.1177/014610790003000404.

Lincoln, Andrew T. Ephesians. WBC 42. Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1990.

Longman, Tremper III and David E. Garland. Ephesians-Philippians. REBC. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006.

Martin, Ralph P. Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. IBC. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1991.

O’Brien, Peter T. The Letter to the Ephesians. PNTC. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999.

Rojas, Juan Manuel Granados. "Ephesians 4,12. A Revised Reading." Biblica 92, no. 1 (2011): 81-96.

Slater, Thomas B. Ephesians. SHBC. Macon. GA: Smyth and Helwys Publication, 2012.