Echoes of Worship

The mood of Ephesians is arresting. It impresses the reader with a sustained loftiness, serene thoughts, and utterances of praise breathed in the repose of prayer. Gone is the joust­ing and din of the Galatian battlefield; behind is that track­ less ‘slough of despond’ portrayed in 2 Corinthians. Now the vision is grander, the theme more sublime, and the setting full of reflection and meditation. The Ephesian door swings open broadly, and “we step into the hush and stillness of the tem­ple.”^[1]George G. Findlay, “The Epistle to the Ephesians,” in The Expositor’s Bible, reprint ed., vol. 6 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 7.

The letter brims with deep conviction expressed primarily in terms, not of argument and polemic, but of adoration: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:3).^[2]All biblical quotations, unless otherwise noted are from the New International Version. The effect of the language is a “mood of devout and impassioned contemplation, dominated by prayer and praise.”^[3]C. H. Dodd, “The Message of the Epistles: Ephesians,” Expository Times 45 (November 1933): 63. Listening rightly to Ephesians is then not simply interpreting its theological content but hearing how its affirmations are made.^[4]The how involves the attitude with which we listen. “Is it with a sense of self-satisfaction, with a feeling of triumphalism or in a spirit of gratitude and humility accepting the letter as a challenge to live up to the calling we have been given?” (Nils A. Dahl, Interpreting Ephesians: Then and Now ” Currents in Theology and Mission 5 [June 1978]: 143). The doctrine flows from the hear of worship not the discipline of the academy; the echoes of thought are effusively melodic not coldly logical. Here is theology done on bended knee, a laus Deo that pervades the style and character of the writing.

Hymnic Notes

Scholarly attempts to isolate hymns or hymnic fragments in Ephesians have met with little approval. Formal criteria used to discern the quotation of traditional materials remain in question. “Scholars who push the reconstruction of hymns have so far been unable to avoid questionable methods.”^[5]Marks Barth, Ephesians, The Anchor Bible, 2 vols. (Garden City, N.Y.: Double & Company, Inc., 1974), p. 8. Formal analyses have discerned hymns in thirteen passages; 1:3-14, 20-23; 2:4-10, 14-17 have received the closest scrutiny. See the summary of problems and research in Jack T. Sanders, “Hymnic Elements in Ephesians 1-3,” Zeitschrift fiir die neutestamentliche Wissenhchaft 56 (1965): 214-32. However, a more fruitful line of inquiry traces the hymnic elements to forms of repetition found in Hebrew poetry, par­ticularly those evidenced in the synagogue liturgy.^[6]Ernst Percy, Die Probleme der Kolosser und  Epheserbriefe (Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup, 1946), pp. 38-39. Ephes­ians long, undulating sentences strung together with relative pronouns and participles (oratio per petua, e.g., 1:3-14), adverbial phrases introduced by prepositions, accumulated genitives, and wealth of synonyms leave the impression of verbose power through repetition and slow-moving intensity. For example, the tendency to sing the introductory blessing (1:3-14) is reinforced by a preponderance of words in which the accent falls on a long, final syllable, causing the thought to linger or pause with chant-like effect.^[7]Thirty such words (perispomena) among fifty one possibilities are identi­fied in the style analysis by A. van Roon, The Authenticity of Ephesians, Supplements  to Novum Testamentum, vol. 39 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974), p. 160. His description of hymnic style in Ephesians ( pp. 182-92) has further confirmation: “One cannot fail to notice the striking similarity between a sentence such as the one we find in Eph 1:3-14 and the typical Hebrew sentence structure of the Qumran [hymnic] texts” (Karl Georg Kuhn, “The Epistle to the Ephesians in the Light of the Qumran Texts,” in Paul and Qumran, ed. J. Murphy-O’Connor [Chicago: The Priory Press, 1968], p. 117). The content, espe­cially chapters 1-3, resonates through an intensive, poetic, and lyrical style – surely intended to be read aloud!

To borrow John Mackay’s choice phrase, Ephesians “pro­vides truth with a lilt.” Truth that sings, doctrine set to music, speaks with a ring of authority and appeal which transcends its systematic and philosophical limits. In chaotic times, it is even more important for a shaken generation, as Mackay argued,

that thought should have a lilt than that it should have a system. The truth we need is truth that sings. And the singing must have the note of hope and victory in it. For of the music of disorder and despair we have had enough. Our generation has listened to this music. . . . What we need is the music of faith.^[8]John A. Mackay, God’s Order: The Ephesian Letter and This Present Time (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1953), p. 23.

Though sometimes judged an alien among his other writings, Ephesians is fully in tune with the Paul we know.^[9]The hymnic-liturgical style of Ephehians is beyond question; the doubt pressed by those who reject the letter’s authenticity is whether Paul was capable of such “lofty” and “affected” speech (Ernst Kasemann, “Das Inter­pretations – problem des Epheserbriefes,” in Exegetische Versuche und Besinnungen, 2d ed., vol. 2 [Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1965], p. 255). The case for the ‘Ephesian singer’ being Paul, enumerating affinities with key sections of the uncontested Pauline letters, is persuasively made by Percy, Die Probleme, pp. 36-46, 200-250; and especially van Roon, Authenticity, 182-212. In a troubled hour Paul knew how to sing (Acts 16:25). This “Hebrew born of Hebrews” could extol the songs of Zion with the spirit or with the mind (1 Cor. 14:15). Little wonder that he moves easily from prose to hymnody. The orchestra­tion of Ephesians joins speaking (lalein), singing (adein), mak­ing melody (psallein), and thanksgiving (eucharistein) in one joyous litany of the Spirit’s fullness (5:19-20).

A Tapestry of Prayer

The first three chapters of Ephesians are basically a sus­tained prayer ( 1:3-3:21), and the entreaty to worthy con­duct contained in the second half of the letter (4:1-6:20) is predicated upon a call to prayer. More than any other New Testament letter, the doctrinal and hortatory statements are phrased in the language and attitude of prayer.^[10]Markus Barth, The Broken Wall (Philadelphia: The Judson Press, 1959), 27-29. It is prayer addressed to God but intended to be heard by the readers: “Praise be to the God . . . . remembering you in my prayers. . . I kneel before the Father . . . to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus . . . always giving thanks to God. . . pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests . . . Peace . . . love . . . grace to all . . .” (1:3, 16; 3:21; 5:20; 6:18, 23-24). The readers have a place in the intercession of Paul, and he asks nothing else but that they join him in prayer and praise.

Paul’s letters generally begin with a conventional greeting and prayer of thanksgiving and intercession followed by the main exposition or doctrinal part (see Romans, 1 Corinthians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon). In Ephesians, as has frequently been observed, the introductory prayer is extended over the first part of the letter, and the theological ideas, primarily of 1:3-3:21, are woven into the prayer.^[11]Martin Dibelius, An die Kolosser, Epheser, an Philemon, Handbuch zum Neuen Testament, vol. 12, 3d ed., rev. Heinrich Greeven (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1953), p. 78; E. F. Scott, The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians, to Philemon and to the Ephesians, The Moffatt New Testament Commentary (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1930), p. 124. It will be useful to outline the pattern:

1. The initial benediction (1:3-14), highly reminiscent of the Jewish berakah,^[12]Cf. Pass. 103, 106, 107; 1QS 11.2-8; the Shemoneh   ‘Esreh (Eighteen Benedictions); Lk. 1:68-79; 2 Cor. 1:3-7; 1 Pet. 1:3-9. leads to ever-expanding thoughts of the the purpose of God in Christ and the place of God’s people in that purpose.
2. Thanksgiving and intercession (1:15-23) introduces a preliminary view of the mystery of the exalted Lord, and then a full reminder (anamnesis ) of the benefits of Jew and Gentile in him (2:1-10, 11-22).
3. At 3:1 Paul resumes the prayer for his readers but immediately interrupts it to say more of the mystery and his special role in the divine plan (3:2-13).^[13]The anacoluthon “For this reason I, Paul . . .” ( 3: 1) is resumed at 3:14: For this reason I kneel . . .” ( see T. K. Abbott, A Critical and Exegeti­cal Commentary on the Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians Inter­national Critical Commentary [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1897], pp. 91-92).
4. Finally, the intercession is taken up again (3:14-19), and the section concludes with a resounding doxology (3:20-21) which fittingly climaxes the first three chapters.^[14]The summary depends upon J. Armitage Robinson, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, 2d ed; (London James Clarke & Co. Ltd., 1922), p. 46; and John C. Kirby, Ephesums, Baptism and Pentecost (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1968), pp. 126-34.

This tapestry of prayer expounds a great new thesis, hinted at but never fully developed in the earlier letters: “that the union of Jew and Gentile in the fellowship of the one church is not only integral to God’s comprehensive plan for the uni­verse, but is the key to the understanding of that plan as a whole.”^[15]G. B. Caird, Paul’s Letters from Prison, The New Clarendon Bible (Ox­ford: Oxford University Press, 1976), pp. 31-32. The effect of the prayer may be summed up in one sentence: “God has done this for all of us, he has done it for you, and I pray that you will come to a deeper understand­ing of it.”^[16]Kirby, Ephesians, Baptism and Pentecost, p. 132. E. F. Scott recalled that “just as Handel com­ posed the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ on his knees, so Paul wrote this sublime epistle, in which he tries to penetrate the ‘mystery’ – the ultimate design of God.”^[17]Scott, Ephesians, p. 125.

Reminder-and-Congratulation

Recent studies of Ephesians have insisted that the tradi­tional division between theology and ethics is artificial, especially the imposition of a kerygma (chapters 1-3) and didache (chapters 4-6) polarity upon the literary structure. Markus Barth objected that “their imposition upon a hymnodic or prayerlike document like Ephesians may be as inap­propriate as the attempt to measure the beauty of a symphony with a yardstick or a barometer.”^[18]Barth, Ephesians, pp. 54-55. The current trend toward a more integrated approach was anticipated in W. O. Carver’s, The Glory of God in the Christian Calling, who keynoted 4:1 as a transition in Paul’s “center of gravity, so to say.” Carver argued:

One feels very sure Paul would never have consented to any division of his teaching into “doctrinal” and “practical” sections. He drew no such sharp distinction, as most ex­positors do, between these two aspects of truth and ex­perience. It is a vicious distinction dividing what cannot be put asunder without serious results for genuine re­ligion. If doctrine is not practical – and practiced – it is unreal, delusive, and useless.^[19]William Owen Carver, The Glory of God in the Christian Calling (Nash­ville: Broadman Press, 1949), p. 20.

In order to maintain the vital connection of theology and ethics, Carver tilted the theme towards Christian vocation, to the source, content, meaning, and appeal of the Christian calling.^[20]Ibid., p. 21. Carver’s effort to wed theology and ethics was seconded by T. B. Maston, “Theology and Ethics in Ephesians,” Southwestern Journal of Theology 6 (October 1963): 61. If we listen to Paul’s wishes for the readers, both parts of the letter emphasize the purpose and calling of the people of God: “in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you” (1:18) and “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (4:1). In the first par t of the letter the greatness of the calling is unfolded; in the sec­ond the implications for a life worthy of the calling.^[21]Nihls A. Dahl, “Bibelstudie uber den Epheserbrief,” in Kurze Auslegung des Epheserbriefes (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1965), pp. 7-8, 49.

The discussion of composition and aim has advanced with the observation of Nils A. Dahl that Ephesians is a letter of reminder-and-congratulation, i.e., “not so much as some ab­stract doctrine on the church, but rather as simply remind­ing us that we do indeed belong to the church, the body of Christ, and asking us to dwell on all that implies.”^[22]Dahl, “Interpreting Ephesians,” p. 141 This perspective emphasizes that, in contrast to the bifurcation of theology and ethics, an identifiable pattern emerges in Ephesians which interweaves the two concerns. This pattern of thought could be described as an alternation between refer­ences to (A) a situation of the readers and (B) what Christ, or God in Christ, has done for them.^[23]J. Paul Sampley, ‘And the Two Shall Become One Flesh’: A Study of the Traditions in Ephesians, Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, no. 16 (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1971 ), pp. 11-12. Samp­ley reported the insight from Dahl’s Yale seminar on Colossians and Ephesians (1961-62). Dahl has projected a full-scale German work in the Meyer’s Kommentar series. The two stages, which appear in varying shades throughout the letter, are clearly discernible in the “once”/”now” contrast of chapter 2. Note the alternating references: (A) the reader’s past and also Paul’s (2:3) is a dark picture of captivity in death (2: 1-3); (B) but now salvation by grace has come through the resur­rection of Christ (2 :4-10); (A) the readers are reminded (2:11) that once they were alienated from the people of God (2:11-12); (B) but now Christ has made “one new man” (2: 13-22 ).^[24]Cf. Dahl, “Bibelstudie,” pp. 24, 31-32. The dimension of reminder-and-congratulation provides the proper dynamic between the indicative and im­perative: that we still live with remnants of the “once” denies self-satisfaction a place; that we claim the “now” in Christ can only elicit praise and service of God. For Paul, recollection becomes exhortation: “You must no longer live as the Gentiles . . .” (4: 17-19), because you are taught in Christ, “Put on the new self , created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (4 :20-24) . It is reminder-and-congratula­tion for all the believer is and continues to be in the far­ flung plan of God.

The Eternal Purpose of  God

The backdrop on which Paul dramatizes the calling of believers has the broadest possible vista. To be in Christ is to be a participant in God’s purpose for all humanity and the created universe as well. This vision reaches beyond history into the eternal past (1:4; 3:9) and stretches ahead into the ages to come (1:10; 3:21). The place of the readers in Christ is thus defined against the backdrop of eternity and the universe itself : “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (3:10-11). This is not sheer fantasy or bizarre embroidery; rather it strikes the keynote of Ephe­sians – God’s purpose to unite all things in Christ (1:9-10) and to achieve this end through the redeemed, the new humanity. “So far from being peripheral or fantastic, the refashioning of the organized life of man in society through the example and teaching of the church is central to God’s eternal purpose. . .”^[25]Caird, Ephesians, p. 67. In the mission of God the church is both token and instrument in the work of redemption which ultimately will embrace the entire universe.  God’s new people, Jew and Gentile gathered in Christ, exist as the colony of heaven in this world, bringing to pass a glorious purpose now and forevermore (cf. 3:21).^[26]Themes such as unity, reconciliation, and redemption emphasize the result of God’s purpose; church, lordship, and ‘in Christ’ stress the sphere and means of it. Paul embraces all these in the outworking of God’s plan which, by emphasizing salvation-history terms (e.g., mysterion), appears to be his central concern. Also, selecting divine purpose as a theme has the advantage of correlating the two parts of the epistle in terms of the community’s calling in the purpose of God. Thus, Curtis Vaughan correctly noted that “the most comprehensive statement of the theme of Ephesians is this: the eternal purpose of God and the place of Christ and His people in that purpose” (Ephesians: A Study Guide Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1977], p. 12). Cf. similar formulations of the theme by F. W. Beare, “The Epistle to the Ephesians: Introduction and Exegesis,” in The Interpreter’s Bible, vol.   10 (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1953), p. 606; and F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1961), pp. 16-17.

From the readers’ viewpoint, the focus of Ephesians is telescopic, moving in an ever narrowing field of view from the cosmic, to the corporate, and finally to the individual. The overall movement begins with the cosmic depiction of God’s plan, a picture taken with a wide-angle lens, in which the unification of Jew and Gentile portends the consumma­tion of all things (1:3-2:22). Then the church as a revelatory agent in the earth and the heavens comes into view (3:1- 4:21). Once again the vision narrows to the primary sub-­unit of the community, the household or family (4:22- 6:9). The fourth and final picture is that of an individual, the Christian warrior fully attired in the panoply of God (6:10-20).^[27]This summary depends on J. Paul Sampley, “The Letter to the Ephe­sians,” in Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, The Pastoral Epistles, Pro­clamation Commentaries (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978, pp. 34-38). The movement is breathtaking and full of meaning: the skirmishes of life occur within an ultimate design, joining loving family, fellowship in the body of Christ, and the cosmic proportions of space and time in the purpose of God. When all is said, it is God’s battle. From eternity through eternity, the God of loving and saving purpose calls his people on mission as those healed through the resurrection of Jesus and as those who   hail even the “redemption of space and time.”^[28]Thomas F. Torrance, Space, Time and Resurrection (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976), p. 90; cf. pp. 159-93. From such a vantage point, how great is, the “hope of his calling” (1:18)!

Election in Christ

The principle of God’s primal and sovereign activity in fulfilling his purpose is expressed in the election of believers in Christ. Ephesians has an unusually rich vocabulary of election terms: in addition to “purpose” (prothesis, 1:11; 3:11; protithesthai, 1:9) there is “to foreordain” (proorizein, 1:5, 11), “to prepare beforehand” (proetoimazein, 2: 10) , “counsel” and “will” (boule . . . thelema, 1:11), “good pleas­ure” (eudokia, 1:5, 9) , and “to choose” (eklegesthai, 1:4). All these concepts, which mainly occur in the opening bene­diction, have God as their proper subject; therefore, they trace the motive of man’s redemption to the antecedent grace and will of God.^[29]God’s will “is obviously the ultimate basis, the supreme norm, the only source of the whole work of salvation.” (Gottlob Schrenk, “Thelema,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, trans. G. W. Bromiley, 9 vols. [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964-74], 3:57. (Hereinafter abbreviated TDNT.) This is emphatically asserted in the decla­ration that God chose us in Christ “before the creation of the world” (pro kataboles kosmou, 1:4), that is, an eternal choice made prior to the physical creation and the temporal process.^[30]See S. D. F. Salmond, “The Epistle to the Ephesians,” in The Expositor’s Greek Testament, vol. 3, reprint ed. (Grand Raids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1961), p. 249; Robinson, Ephesians, p. 26; Beare, “Ephesians,” p. 615; and Bruce, Ephesians, p. 28. The election of believers is so bound up with the person and work of Christ that before the creative process God had set his heart on them “in Christ.”^[31]Are we to conceive of the existence of the chosen in Christ before the creation? If so then only in the thelema and eudokia of God and without sug­gesting the pre-existence of the church in analogy to that of Christ (Barth, Ephesians, p. 112). In a relational sense, although still on earth and time­ bound believers participate with Christ in the eschatological life of the heavenly places (1:3; 2:6); accordingly (kathos, 1:4), their election in him, their corporate union with him, can be traced back to his pre-existence (Her­man Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology, trans. J. R. DeWitt [Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1975], p. 347 ). Where the threads of history run bare, looking to both past and future, it is better to live with mystery than to try unraveling the eternal. Their salvation, as part of an age-old strategy, is secured by virtue of union with the Elect One. Thereby, the response of faith is as­sumed and the obedient are “chosen agents in the fulfillment of a plan which had been in God’s mind even before the world was created.”^[32]C. Leslie Mitton, Ephesians, New Century Bible (London: Oliphants, 1976), p. 49.

Election does not connote favoritism or reward for personal merits. Spiritual fitness “to be holy and blameless” is the consequence not the condition of the divine choice. George Caird rightly noted that election is compounded of three convictions:

that man’s salvation is from first to last the act of God’s free choice, and not of man’s own achievement; that it is not merely the repairing of the damage done by sin, but the fulfillment of God’s original purpose for man; and that it involves appointment to a role in which the re­sponsibilities bulk at least as large as the privileges.^[33]Caird, Ephesians, p. 32.

A primary corollary of election is the life of obedience and service; the recipients of spiritual blessings, chosen in God’s purpose, become the channels of blessings for a needy world. “This is, to be sure, a position of high privilege; but it must also be interpreted in terms of mission and responsibility.”^[34]Vaughan, Ephesians, p. 30.

Revelation of the Mystery

The purpose of God in eternity is not new, although it appears in time as new. Its revelation, the way the election appears in living history,^[35]Biblical election is not absolute and static but relational and purposive; it is in Christ and therefore enacted through him, in his incarnation, crucifix­ ion, and resurrection which create the possibility of faith. “It is never separated from responsibility and decision. It is never remote from living history. If anchored in eternity, it is also functional in history” (Gottlob Schrenk, “Ekletos” TDNT, 4: 192. is called the “mystery of his will” (1:9). The mystery (mysterion) or secret hitherto concealed but now made known, is firmly connected by Paul with the revelation and proclamation of the gospel. The mystery was prepared before the world (1 Cor. 2:7), coincident with the origin of the elect, concealed from the powers, and hidden in God (1 Cor. 2:8; Col. 1:26; Rom. 16:25), but now re­vealed in the gospel. The revelation takes place in the apos­tolic preaching as the announcement of good tidings (3:8), enlightenment (3:9), and making known the gospel (6:19). The proclamation is not merely informative but itself belongs to the mystery, putting it into effect. To the oikonomia tou mysteriou (3:9, literally, “stewardship of the mystery”), name­ly, “how this hidden purpose was to be put into effect” (NEB), belongs Paul’s oikonomia, his apostolic office and mission (3.2).^[36]Gunther Bornkamm, “Mysterion,” TDNT , 4:819-24.

The unfolding of God’s purpose to bring all things together under the headship of Christ (1:10) has a present stage: “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and share together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (3:6). The equality and unity of Jews and Gentiles by their com­mon incorporation into Christ – both alike being reconciled “to God through the cross” (2:16) – constitutes the new people of God.^[37]F. F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmanns Publishing Company, 1977 ), p. 439. By abolishing the ancient opposition of these two sections of humanity, Christ’s reconciling work established a bridgehead that leads to the unity of all things. “Compared with this infinite scope of the work of Christ the admission of Gentiles into the church might appear a very trivial matter: but the germ of everything was there.”^[38]Scott, Ephesians, p.186. In this sense the relationship of Jew and Gentile in 2:11-22 shares much in common with Romans 9-11.^[39]That the Jew-Gentile question had not lapsed by the time of Ephesians is evident from the curious interchange of “we” and “you” (cf. 2: 1-3, 11-12; 3:1; 4:17-19) when Paul addressed the Gentile readers from his Jewish perspective (contra Peter Richardson, Israel in the Apostolic Church, Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, no. 10 [Cambridge: At the University Press, 1969], pp. 148-56). There the called, Jew and Gentile (Rom. 9:24), are objects of God’s electing purpose (Rom. 9:11), and their dramatic roles in salvation history are described in a mystery (Rom. 11:25) which reaches toward all humanity (Rom. 11:32 ). The vision has been extended in Ephesians to focus upon the oneness of the church and the cosmic significance of its place in his­tory.^[40]Cf. Henry Chadwick, “Ephesians,” in Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, ed. M. Black   (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1962), p. 980.

The New People of God

A distinctive feature of Ephesians is its concept of the church which goes beyond the local, visible assembly to that of a spiritual fellowship including all believers. This ex­tended meaning depends upon Paul’s understanding of the phrase “in Christ” and the principle of a regenerate congre­gation.^[41]Harvey Eugene Dana, A Manual of Ecclesiology, 2d rev. ed. (Kansas City: Central Seminary Press, 1944), p. 56: “It is hence purely a spiritual conception, connoting a mystical fellowship of the saints and relationship to Christ.” Cf. K. L. Schmidt, “Ekklesia,” TDNT, 3:512. Paul’s interest does not lie in the notion of a transcendental body or a saving institution but in the recon­ciliation of man with man by common incorporation (sys­soma, 3:6) into Christ by faith. The church as the fellowship of believers is the sphere in which Christ’s reconciling work has been experienced and through which it will be extended. The current theological opinion that Ephesians is non-Pauline and well “on the way leading to early catholicism” (Friihka­tholizismus)^[42]Kasemann,   “Interpretationsproblem,” p. 256. The primary objection to Ephesians is that the saving gospel is replaced by a saving institution (Heilsanstalt). For the background in contemporary scholarship see Ralph P. Martin, New Testament Foundations: A Guide for Christian Students, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978), pp. 380-83. distorts this emphasis. Not all roads viewing the church from the aspect of spiritual unity in Christ lead to Rome. The church in Ephesians still owes its prominence to the cross of Christ (2:16). Ecclesiology has not obscured Christology; the body has not swallowed the head.^[43]Cf. Helmut Merklein, Christius und die Kirche: Die theologische Grund­ struktur des Epheserbriefe nach Eph 2, 11-18, Stuttgarter Bibelstudien, no. 66 (Stuttgart: KBW Verlag, 1973), p. 68.

The Unity of Believers

Christ creates in himself the “one new man out of two” (2:16) comprising former Gentile and former Jew in a new humanity, no longer distinctly two but a new, unified people of God. There is in this the pledge of a spiritual unity destined to grow until believers “arrive at oneness in faith. . . and at mature manhood and the stature of full-grown men in Christ” (4:13, Weymouth). The unity of the church answers to the unity of the triune God, for believers have one God for their Father (1:5; 3:14), Christ as their one Lord (1:22; 4:5), and by one Spirit have access to God (2:18; 4:4). This unity manifests itself in one hope which belongs to their call, faith, and baptism (4:4-5).^[44]Bruce M. Metzger, “Paul’s Vision of the Church: A Study of the Ephesian Letter,” Theology Today 6 ( April 1949): 54. The “unity of the Spirit” (henotes, 4:3) to be preserved by church mem­bers refers to the fellowship and mutual care that the Spirit of God fosters in the believing community.^[45]A subjective genitive, “the unity which the Spirit gives (NEB, cf. Mitton, Ephesians, p. 139). The diversity of gifts bestowed upon the church promotes its growth and equips its members for the work of ministry (4: 11-12); moreover, the Holy Spirit nurtures the peace that binds this diversity and enables the church to be harmonious and winsome in all its witness.

Images of the Church

The vitality and scope of the church’s life exceeds the meaning and use of the term ekklesia, which occurs nine times in Ephesians (1:22; 3:10, 21; 5:23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32). Con­sequently, the concern for understanding the character of the church dominates the letter through a concentration of biological, architectural and social metaphors.^[46]See Metzer, “Paul’s Vision of the Church,” pp. 54-61; W.H. Griffith Thomas “The Doctrine of the Church in the Epistle to the Ephesians,” The Expositor, 7th ser., vol. 2 (1906): 318-39; and Paul S. Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), pp. 213-20. Paul enlists the aid of three primary images.

1. The Body of Christ. Christ is the head (kephale) of the church which is his body (soma, 1:22-23; cf. 2:16; 4:4, 12, 16; 5:23, 30). Christ as head is both the source and authority of the church; he exerts his power and presence in the church, and the church lives in union with him and in obedience to him. In a passage weighted with grammatical problems, the church as Christ’s body is said to be “the full­ness of him who fills everything in every way” (1:23). In preference to the more awkward construction which places “fullness” (pleroma) in apposition to Christ,^[47]That is Christ is the fullness of God who is filling all things; so Caird, Ephesians, p, 49;. and with hesitation Mitton, Ephesians, p. 78. the probable meaning is that the church is being filled by Christ who em­bodies the fullness of God (Col. 2:9). That is, the body “is constantly receiving from Christ the complete fullness which Christ receives from the Father.”^[48]John A. T. Robinson, The Body: A Study in Pauline Theology (Phil­adelphia: The Westminster Press, 1952), p. 69. This view takes pleroumenou as passive in the sense that Christ receives the entire fullness of deity; cf. NEB and Bruce, Ephesians, p. 46.

2. The Holy Temple. Paul twice supplements the body image by that of a building (2:20-22; 4:12, 16). The whole church constitutes a holy temple or “dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (2:22; cf. 1 Cor. 3:16-17). The founda­tion of the building is the “apostle and prophets” who repre­sent the two forms of spiritual ministry (3:5; 4:11) by which the church was begun and continued(cf. Acts 11:28; 13:1; 15:32; 21:10). The coherence and stability of the struc­ture depends upon Christ the cornerstone (akrogoniaios, 2:20), the culminating, architectural key which binds the walls together (cf. Isa. 28:16).^[49]Robinson, Ephesians, p. 69. The building is said to grow, being perfectly fitted together in a single, organic whole. By a shift of metaphor, the building is alive, even as the body is built up  (4:12) to the perfect outcome of continuous in­ crease and growth, implying that living stones (cf. 1 Pet. 2:5) are added.

3. The Bride of Christ. Paul also saw in marriage a pic­ture of the church’s relationship to Christ (cf . Rom. 7:1-4; 2 Cor. 11:2). In harmony with the imagery of Jesus (Mk. 2:19-20; Jh. 3:29), the idea is developed in 5:21-33 as a “profound mystery” (5:32); namely, the interdependent union of a husband and wife (cf. Gen. 2:24) illustrates the ideal relationship of Christ and the church, while the latter serves as a model for marriage. “It is the likeness of the conjugal union to this higher spiritual relationship that gives to mar­riage its deepest significance.”^[50]Vaughan, Ephesians, p. 119. Paul treats the husband as symbolic of Christ and the wife as symbolic of the church. As savior of the church (5:23), Christ is guardian and pro­tector of his body. Indeed, his love for the church involved a great sacrifice – he “gave himself up for her” (5:25). Un­like the husband and wife who are one flesh, the nuptial image distinguishes between Christ and the bride. The eschatological note in the phrase “to present her to himself as a radiant church” (5:27) suggests that Christ is not only the bridegroom who cherishes her but also the judge who will render a verdict concerning her splendor and purity.^[51]Sampley, ‘And The Two Shall Become One Flesh’, p. 155.

The Sovereign, Exalted Christ

The church enjoys the presence of Christ through his exaltation to the right hand of God. The spiritual blessings of sonship (1:5), redemption and forgiveness (1:7), unity (1:10), the seal of the Spirit (1:13), and eternal inheritance (1:14) come from the enthroned Christ of the “heaven­ly realms” (1:3). He has been installed far above all powers (1:20-21), and believers are seated with him through his resurrection and ascension (2:6). In triumph procession, the ascended Lord bestows gifts upon the church: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men” (4:8).^[52]The interpretation of the corresponding descent to the lower parts of the earth (3:5) is problematic. The traditional answer of the church takes it to be Christ’s descent into Hades, the world of the dead (so Robinson, Ephesians, p. 96; and Beare, “Ephesians,” p. 689). If the variant reading proton, “first descended,” is rejected, a case can be made for the descent to follow the ascent, i.e., the pouring out of Christ’s gifts at Pentecost (Caird, Ephesians, pp. 73-74; and Kirby, Ephesians, Baptism and Pentecost, pp. 97- 100). It appears more likely that it refers to Christ’s incarnation and cruci­fixion, his descent to “the lower, earthly regions” (genitive in apposition) in birth and death. The life and destiny of the church is bound up with that of the exalted Christ; therefore, the church’s status can best be measured from the boundaries of his dominion. Two pertinent phrases describe the sphere and object of his lordship.

1. In the Heavenlies. The construction is not found out­ side of Ephesians where it occurs five times as a neuter plural (en tois epouraniois; 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12). These “heavenly realms” (cf . Weymouth, NEB, NIV) are where Christ sits enthroned in union with believers, but they are also surrounded by competing forces – principalities, powers, and forces of wickedness. It is then “the sphere of spiritual activities: that immaterial region, the ‘unseen universe’, which lies behind the world of sense.”^[53]Robinson, Ephesians, p. 21. To map the heavenlies is “human topography, standing for man’s invisible, spiritual environment, as contrasted with the visible, tangible environ­ment we call earth.^[54]Caird, Ephesians, p. 34.

2. All Things. Whether his rule is exercised in creation, redemption, or consummation, the object of Christ’s dominion is “all things” (ta panta, always with the article except at 1:22 where Ps. 8:6 is quoted). Every use of ta panta in Ephesians relates directly to the lordship of Christ (1:10, 11, 23; 3:9; 4: 10, 15; 5:13) and broadly denotes the structures, conditions, and entities of the created order.^[55]See Bo   Reicke, “Pas,” TDNT , 5:892-96;   and Barth, Ephesians, pp. 176-79. Ta panta signifies “the sum of all things, seen and unseen, in the heavens and upon the earth, whatever their sphere of being, their mode of existence, or their relation of dependence upon God.”^[56]Brooke Foss Westcott, Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, reprinted ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 187. The ultimate goal of God’s design is to “sum up all things in Christ” (1:10, ASV). The verb “sum up” (anake­ phalaioun) is derived from kephalaion which means an arith­metical total or a comprehensive summary, i.e., to bring separate items into a coherent whole. “Things in heaven” (1:10, RSV) would include the principalities and the powers, those sinister, invisible forces which decisively affect the fortunes of believers (1:21; 2:2; 3:10; 6:12). This reordering of the universe implies a form of cosmic redemption: the powers are not destined to be “in Christ,” rather subjugated to him as sovereign Lord.

Only the saints can be described as “in Christ,” for he is joined to them, dwelling in their hearts through faith (3:17). When Paul says “in Christ” he emphasizes the relationship of the church to the exalted Lord. The phrase en Christo or a variant of it (“in him,” 1:7; “in the Lord,” 1:13; “in Christ Jesus,” 3:11; “in Jesus,” 4:21) occurs thirty-six times in Ephesians; all of them have a corporate emphasis; in about one-half of the occurrences God is the subject of a decision or action made in Christ. “In Christ” is the heart of Paul’s theology, expressing the deed of Christ for us and the union of Christ with us. It refers “to all the redemptive work of Christ in the experience of his incarnation, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, his heavenly priesthood, his eternal purpose for man.”^[57]Ray Summers,  Ephesians: Pattern for Christian Living (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1960), p. 10. In listening to the Ephesian melody, the leitmotif is unmistakable: In Christ! Jubilate!