Ephesians 1:1-2. Διὰ θελήμ. Θεοῦ] See on 1 Corinthians 1:1.

τοῖς ἁγίοις] See on Romans 1:7.

καὶ πιστοῖς ἐν Χ. Ἰ.] furnishes, with τοῖς ἁγίοις] the completeness of the conception, hence it is not epexegesis (Beza, Vorstius, Calovius, and others), but an appended element, and καί is the closely copulative and. Comp. Colossians 1:2. It is not, however, the conception of fidelity and perseverance which is appended (Grotius, Locke, Baumgarten, Rosenmüller, Meier; see, on the other hand, already Calovius), but the notion of faith in Christ, since in the address, where the persons are to be designated very distinctly, τοῖς ἁγίοις alone would not yet characterize the readers expressly as Christians. Comp. Php 1:1.

ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ] does not belong to ἁγίοις and πιστοῖς, so that it would denote the sphere, within which the Christians are saints and believing (Harless; comp. Boyd, Storr, Opusc. II. p. 121, Meier, Schenkel), for otherwise (comp. on Colossians 1:2) καὶ πιστοῖς would be quite superfluous and a tame and heavy addition, inasmuch as the notion of ἅγιος ἐν Χριστῷ presupposes the notion of πιστὸς ἐν Χριστῷ; but merely to πιστοῖς: fidem in Christo reponentibus. Comp. Ephesians 1:15, and see on Mark 1:15; Galatians 3:26.

Ephesians 1:2. See on Romans 1:7.Ephesians 1:1-2. Address and Salutation.—In the form of his Epistles, especially in the opening address and in the conclusion, Paul follows the methods of letter writing which were customary in the ancient world, in particular in Greece and Rome, in his own time. We now possess a considerable collection of ancient letters, especially communications of a business kind and letters of familiar intercourse. Not a few of these belong to the periods immediately preceding and following the birth of Christ. They help us to a better understanding of some things in Paul’s Epistles. They also let us see how he infused the new spirit of Christianity into the old accustomed heathen forms of epistolary correspondence.

This Epistle opens in Paul’s usual way, with a greeting in which both the writer and the readers are specifically designated. At the same time the address has certain features of its own, which have their explanation in the circumstances.—Παῦλος. In the Epistles which he addresses to Churches, Paul usually associates some one else, or more than one, with himself in the superscription—Sosthenes in 1 Corinthians; Timothy in 2 Corinthians, Philippians and Colossians; Silvanus and Timothy in 1 and 2 Thessalonians; “all the brethren” in Galatians. The only exception is the Epistle to the Romans. In Philemon, too, a letter of a personal and private character, though meant also for the Church in the house of the recipient (Ephesians 1:2), he names Timothy with himself. But in the present Epistle no one is conjoined with him in the greeting. It is difficult to suppose that he was absolutely alone at the time when he wrote this letter. The explanation lies probably in the fact that the Epistle was written as a communication of a general character, intended to go round a considerable circle of Churches.—ἀπόστολος. Usually this term has the definite, official sense of a delegate, a messenger with a commission. Occasionally it has a wider and less specific meaning, as in Acts 14:4; Acts 14:14, 1 Corinthians 9:5-6; Galatians 2:9, and probably Romans 16:7; 1 Corinthians 15:5; 1 Corinthians 15:7; 2 Corinthians 8:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:6. In the Gospels, while it occurs oftener in Luke, it is found only once in each of the other three. In the LXX it occurs once, as the representative of שָׁלוּחַ (1 Kings 14:6). In later Judaism it denotes one who is sent out on foreign service, e.g., to collect the Temple-tribute. See Light., Galatians, pp. 92–101. Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ. This order is to be preferred, with the RV and TTrWH, to the Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ of the TR and the AV. The genitive may be the ordinary possessive genitive, “an apostle belonging to Christ Jesus”; or it may be the genitive of derivation or source, “an apostle sent by Christ Jesus,” the term ἀπόστολος retaining something of its original sense of one sent by another. The former is the more probable view, looking to the analogy of such phrases as οὗ εἰμι (Acts 27:23). The name Χριστός, which in the Gospels preserves its technical sense of “the Christ” in all but a few instances (e.g., Matthew 1:1; Matthew 1:18; Mark 1:1; John 17:3), has become a personal name in the Pauline Epistles. The combination “Jesus Christ,” or “Christ Jesus,” which is rare in the Gospels, occurs frequently in the Book of Acts and most frequently in the Epistles.

There is a variety in the way in which Paul designates himself in his Epistles that is of interest and has its meaning. In some he gives only his name, and makes no reference to his being either an apostle or a servant of Jesus Christ. So in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. In one (Philemon) he describes himself as a “prisoner of Jesus Christ”. In one (Philippians) he is “servant” only; in two (Romans and Titus) he is both “servant” and “apostle”. In seven (1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians , 1 and 2 Timothy, and here in Ephesians) it is only the apostleship that is instanced, but in each case with a further statement of how it came to him.—διὰ θελήματος Θεοῦ. So also in 1 and 2 Corinthians, Colossians and 2 Timothy. In Galatians we have οὐκ ἀκʼ ἀνθρώπων, οὐδὲ διʼ ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλὰ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ Θεοῦ πατρός, κ.τ.λ.; and in 1 Timothy: κατʼ ἐπιταγὴν Θεοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν καὶ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ (RV); cf. κατʼ ἐπιταγὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Θεοῦ, with reference to the commission to preach (Titus 1:3). The phrase used here in Ephesians defines the apostleship as an office which came to Paul neither by his own will nor by the act of any man, but by direct Divine call and appointment. His Epistles certainly reflect his consciousness of this fact. His work, his discourses, his letters all alike reveal the conviction that he was in actuality what he had been declared to be in the message to Ananias—“a vessel of election” (Acts 9:15). This is the main idea in the defining sentence and its equivalents. They vindicate Paul’s authority, indeed, when that is challenged, but they express primarily the fact that it was by grace he was what he was (1 Corinthians 15:10).—τοῖς ἁγίοις. Those addressed are designated first by a term which expresses the great Old Testament idea of their separation. It does not immediately or distinctively denote their personal piety or sanctity in our sense of the word, though that is dealt with as going with the other. It expresses the larger fact that they are set apart to God and taken into a special relation to Him. In three of the Epistles of the Captivity (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians) it takes the place which the Church has in the superscriptions of the earlier Epistles (Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians). The reason for the variation is not easy to see. It has been supposed to be due to the desire to give “a more personal colouring to the Epistle as if addressed to the members of the Church as individuals rather than as a body” (Abbott). The distinction, indeed, is not carried through the two groups of Epistles; for in Philemon it is again “the Church,” not “the saints”.—τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ. The local definition ἐν Ἐφέσῳ (on which see more in the Introduction) is inserted by the vast majority of manuscripts, both uncial and cursive, and Fathers, and, as far as we know, by all the Versions. It is supported also to some extent by the fact that in the oldest manuscripts the title of the Epistle is προς Εφεσιους; by the apparently unanimous tradition of the Early Church that this Epistle was addressed to the Ephesians; by the absence of all evidence indicating that the Epistle was claimed in ancient times for any other Church definitely named; and by certain parallels in Ignatius. On the other hand, it is omitted by the two oldest and most important uncials, [13] and [14] (in which it has been inserted by later hands); it is expurged from the cursive 67 by a corrector who seems to have had an older document before him; it did not belong to the text of the manuscripts followed by Origen early in the third century, nor to that of those mentioned by Basil about a century and a half later. The omission is supported also to some extent by a statement made by Tertullian regarding Marcion; and more decidedly by the general character of the Epistle (its lack of personal references, salutations to individuals, etc.), as well as by the difficulty of understanding why the phrase should have been dropped if it did belong to the original text. Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort and others, therefore, bracket it in their texts; Tregelles brackets it in his margin and the Revisers give it as an alternative reading in their margin.

[13] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[14] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

If ἐν Ἐφέσῳ is retained, all is plain. If the hypothesis is accepted (on which see Introduction) that a blank space was left after the τοῖς οὖσιν to be filled in with the names, each in its turn, of the particular Churches in the Province of Asia to which the letter came in its rounds among the congregations, all still remains plain. But if the clause is omitted and if the hypothesis mentioned is not accepted, a difficulty arises in dealing with the combination τοῖς οὖσιν καὶ πιστοῖς. There are far-fetched expedients which need only to be named in order to be dismissed—such as Origen’s notion that the τοῖς οὖσιν has a transcendental sense, meaning that the saints ARE, as God is called I AM, and expressing the idea, as it may be, that they are those who have been called out of non-existence into real existence or an existence worthy of the name; and the somewhat similar idea that the τοῖς οὖσιν denotes the reality of their sainthood: “the saints who are really such”; or the reality of their sainthood and faith: “the saints and believers who are truly such”. The choice lies between two explanations, viz., (1) “to the saints who are also believers in Christ Jesus,” and (2) “to the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus”. The former gives to πιστοῖς the special New Testament sense which it has in such Pauline passages as 2 Corinthians 6:15; Galatians 3:9; 2 Timothy 4:3; Titus 1:6. It takes the term to be added in order to complete the description of the readers as Christians—not merely set apart, as might be the case with Jews (the τοῖς ἁγίοις by itself not going necessarily beyond the OT idea and the Israelite relation), but specifically believers in Christ. The latter gives the adjective the sense of trustworthy, steadfast, which is its classical sense, but which it also has in a later passage of this Epistle (Ephesians 6:21), in other Pauline Epistles (Colossians 4:9; 1 Timothy 1:12, 2 Timothy 2:2), and occasionally elsewhere in the NT (e.g., 1 Peter 5:12; Hebrews 2:17). The term thus defines the readers, who are understood to be Christians, as faithful, constant in their Christian profession. This is favoured by the designation of the brethren in Colossians 1:2, which is the closest parallel and in which the πιστοῖς seems to have the sense of faithful. It is objected that, if this were the meaning, the πιστοῖς should have been followed by the simple dative Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, as in Hebrews 3:2. In like mannet it is objected to the former explanation that in connecting the πιστοῖς immediately with the ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, “believing in Christ Jesus,” it has usage against it, πιστὸς ἐν not being found in that sense in the NT although we find πίστις ἐν occasionally in Pauline passages (Ephesians 1:15; Galatians 3:26) and πιστεύειν ἐν at least once elsewhere (Mark 1:15). But in point of fact the ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ is best taken here in the definite Pauline sense which it has as an independent phrase expressing a distinct and profound idea—that of fellowship or union with Christ, or standing in Him. It is doubtful whether it is meant to qualify both the ἁγίοις and the πιστοῖς (so Abbott, etc.). More probably it qualifies the nearer adjective, and expresses the fact that it is in virtue of their union with Christ that the readers are πιστοί. Their constancy has its meaning and its life in their fellowship with Him. Of the two explanations the second is to be preferred on the whole (with Lightfoot, etc.), although the first has the support of Meyer, Ellicott, etc.Ch. Ephesians 1:1-2. Greeting

1. Paul] See Acts 13:9 for the first occurrence of this name of the Apostle. He probably bore, from infancy, both the two names, Saul (Saoul, Saulus) and Paulus, the first as a Hebrew home-name, the latter for use in the Gentile world. Paulus (Paul) would thus naturally become the prevalent name during the Christian life-work of the bearer.

an apostle] Lit., an envoy, a missionary; in the Gospels and Acts always in the special sense of an immediate Delegate from the Saviour; except perhaps Acts 14:14, where Barnabas bears the title. In Romans 16:7 the sense is perhaps more extended; certainly so in 2 Corinthians 8:23. It always, however, in N. T., designates at least a sacred messenger, not excepting Php 2:25, where see note in this Series. St Paul needed often to insist on the fact and rights of his apostleship in the highest sense of the word; 1 Corinthians 9:1-2; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Galatians 1:1.—See further, Appendix F.

of Jesus Christ] Of Christ Jesus is the order in many documents. The sacred name (Jesus) and title (Christ) occur together in the Gospels five times, in the Acts often, in the Epistles perpetually. It is most important to remember that Christ is merely the Greek version of the Hebrew Messiah (Anointed). In the N. T. it thus constantly refers back to O. T. prophecy and to the truth (uttered by the Messiah Himself, John 4:22), that “salvation is of the Jews.”

by the will of God] So, in the same connexion and position, 1 Cor., 2 Cor., Col., 2 Tim. In 1 Tim. (and Titus 1:3) we have “according to the commandment” of God. See Galatians 1:1 for the deep certainty of a direct Divine commission which underlay such a phrase in St Paul’s mind. He knew himself to be “a vessel of choice, to bear the name” (Acts 9:15) of his Lord.

saints] Holy ones; persons possessed of holiness, separated from sin to God. It is true that this is “the language of charitable presumption” (Pearson, Exposition of the Creed, Art. ix); when a community is thus described, St Paul does not thereby positively assert that each individual answers the description. But observe that this presumptive use of the word “saint” does not lower the true sense of the word, so as to make it properly mean, e. g., merely a member of a Christian community, a possessor of visible Church privileges.

which are at Ephesus] “Some very ancient authorities omit at Ephesus” (margin of Revised Version). On the question thus raised, see Introduction, ch. 4.

and to the faithful] I. e. “the saints,” under a different aspect. For the word as used, of Christian believers, see Acts 10:45 (“the faithful of the circumcision”); Acts 16:1 (“a faithful Jewess”); 2 Corinthians 6:15 (“the faithful with the unfaithful,” i.e. the believer with the unbeliever); Colossians 1:2; 1 Timothy 4:3 (“them who are faithful and know, &c.), 1 Timothy 4:12 (“the faithful”), 1 Timothy 5:16 (“any faithful man or faithful woman”), 1 Timothy 6:2 (“faithful,” i.e. Christian, “masters”); Titus 1:6. These and similar passages, and the contrast of the word “unfaithful” (infidelis, infidel), shew that as a designation of Christians it means not trustworthy but trustful; full of faith, in the Christian sense. On its application to the community, see on “saints,” above.

in Christ Jesus] See, for parallels to this all-important phrase, Romans 8:1; 1 Corinthians 15:18; 2 Corinthians 5:17, &c. And compare the Lord’s language, John 6:56; John 14:20; John 15:2-7; and the illustration given by e.g. Ephesians 5:30. The “saints and faithful” are regarded as solidaire with their Lord, in respect both of inseparable interest, holy dearness, and oneness of spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17); specially the latter. The Epistle itself is a large comment on the phrase.Ephesians 1:1. Θελήματος, the will) So Ephesians 1:5; Ephesians 1:9; Ephesians 1:11.—τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσι‚ καὶ πιστοῖς, to the saints and faithful, who are) in all those places to which Tychicus went with this epistle. It appears from the records quoted in the Apparatus, that no city was mentioned by name[1] in this inscirption, whence some have supplied Laodicea (although all that had a separate reference to the Laodiceans, was explained by Paul in the epistle written to the Colossians about the same time, ch. Ephesians 4:15-16); others, Ephesus: either of them might be before the mind of the apostle; for Paul no doubt told Tychicus whither he should go,—to Laodicea, for example, and thence to Colosse, which was in the neighbourhood of Laodicea, and either first or last to Ephesus. Wherefore our annotations are now and then specially applicable to the Ephesians. Nevertheless, in this passage, τοῖς οὖσιν, i.e. those who are present,[2] is said absolutely, as Acts 13:1, κατὰ τὴν οὖσαν ἐκκλησίαν, in the church that was at Antioch; and Romans 13:1, αἱ δὲ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι, and the powers that be [the existing powers]. Paul, when writing to the churches planted by himself, generally mentions many circumstances concerning present and former events, having reference to himself or the churches; but he had been at Ephesus, and that too for a long time, not many years before, Acts 20:31. Why then does he write as a person unknown, Ephesians 1:15, ch. Ephesians 3:2; Ephesians 3:4? and why does he descend less to particulars in this epistle, than in any other? Why, at ch. Ephesians 6:23-24, does he conclude in the third, and not in the second person, as he always does on other occasions? Why does he add no salutations, which, however, he does not omit even in the case of the Colossians? Why does he not mention Timothy, whom, however, he joins with himself, Colossians 1:1? For, the close resemblance of the style of writing [the texture of composition] in both, the same mention in both of their bearer, Tychicus, and many other circumstances, confirm the fact, that each of these epistles, this and the one to the Colossians, was sent at one time. Why does he only call them brethren at ch. Ephesians 6:10? Ans. All these things are indeed proofs, that Paul so drew up the whole letter, that it might be publicly read, or privately perused, both at Ephesus and in many of the churches of Asia, to which, as having been perhaps pointed out to him by name, Tychicus would go, and that all might receive it as if it had been addressed to themselves; comp. Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27. So far as this matter was concerned, full liberty (a carta bianca) was granted. “We must observe,” says Usher, at A. M. 4068, “that, in some ancient copies, this epistle was inscribed in general terms, as was usually done in writing evangelical letters, to the saints who are … and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: as if it had been sent first to Ephesus, as the principal metropolis of Asia, and was thence to be transmitted to the other churches of the same province, with the insertion of the name of each, etc.” It may be said: Paul wrote this epistle before he had seen the Ephesians. Ans. He had formerly [previous to his visit to Ephesus, Acts 19; Acts 20.] suffered no bonds so well known and so long, Acts 16:35; Acts 18:10; but these, which he mentions [in this epistle], were remarkable and distinguished, Ephesians 3:13; Ephesians 6:20. As regards the rest of the inscription, holiness is put before faith, Ephesians 1:4; Ephesians 1:11-12, where also the word κληροῦσθαι is before hope;[3] moreover, at 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2. It belongs to God to sanctify [set apart as holy to Himself] and claim us to Himself; to us, according to the gift of God, to believe.

[1] Lachm. reads ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, with AD(Δ)Gfg Vulg. and marg. of B corrected later; but B omits it, and Jerome, 7, 545a, attests that Origen did not know of the words. Basil mentions that old fathers before his time in some ancient copies omitted them. Marcion in Tertullian is accused of having added ad Laodicenos. Jerome says, that some suppose the saints at Ephesus were addressed by a title, or “vocabulum essentiœ, so that those who are should be so called from Him who is;” whilst others read simply “those who are at Ephesus.”—ED.

[2] The saints that there are.—ED.

[3] προηλπικότας, which Engl. Vers. renders trusted, instead of hope.—ED.Verse 1. - Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus. Paul's one but all-sufficient claim on the Ephesians is his relation to Christ: he is Christ's apostle, not only as sent forth by him, but also as belonging to him; elsewhere his servant or bondman. He makes no claim to their attention on the ground of his great experience in the gospel, his profound study of it, or even his gifts, but rests simply on his being Christ's apostle; thus recognizing Christ as the only Head of the Church, and source of authority therein. By the will of God. The First Person of the Trinity, the Fountain of Godhead, has not only devised the whole scheme of mercy, but has likewise planned the subordinate arrangements by which it is carried out; thus it was by his will that Paul held the office of an apostle of Christ (see Galatians 1:1; Acts 26:7; Galatians 1:11, 12). His authority and his dignity as an apostle are thus the highest that can be: "He that heareth you, heareth me." To the saints that are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus. This designation is expanded in the verses that immediately follow. "Saints" means set apart for God, and, as the result thereof, persons pure and holy; "faithful" is equivalent to "Believers;" while "in Christ Jesus" denotes the Source of their life, the element in which they lived, the Vine into which they were grafted. Such persons were the heart and nucleus of the Church, though others might belong to it. In the fervor of his salutations here and elsewhere, Paul seems to see only the genuine spiritual members of the Church; though afterwards he may indicate that all are not such (see Philippians 3:15). With regard to the clause, "that are at Ephesus," see Introduction. By the will of God

As frequently in the introductions of the epistles, to emphasize his divine appointment. In Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1, called is added.

To the saints

See on Romans 1:7; see on Colossians 1:2; see on Philippians 1:1.

At Ephesus

There is much discussion as to the genuineness of these words. They are bracketed by both Westcott and Hort, and Tischendorf. On their omission or retention turns the question whether the epistle was addressed to the church at Ephesus, or was a circular epistle, addressed to Ephesus along with several other churches. For Ephesus, see on Revelation 2:1.

The faithful

Not faithful in the sense of fidelity and perseverance, but believing, as John 20:27; Acts 10:45. It is to be included with the saints under the one article.

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