Yet the book is rarely accepted in nonevangelical circles today. The book of ephesians along with philippians and colossians, was written by the apostle paul while in prison in rome. The ephesian letter is a revelation of gods plan in and for the church and is thus a development of the second revelation given to the apostle paul. We also studied the authorship of the letter to hebrews, an anonymous letter in the new testament. Pdf authorship of pauline epistles revisited researchgate. The book of ephesians page 3 what we possess in christ our possessions the believers blessed life ephesians 1 key verse. The letter to the ephesians download ebook pdf, epub. He sailed to macedonia and then traveled to greece where he stayed for three months.
A source on that site says, hoehner surveys 279 commentators from 1519 to 2001, finding 54% favor pauline authorship, 39% conclude against pauline authorship, and 7% remained uncertain. Ephesians describes the church as gods new humanity, a colony in which the lord of history has established a foretaste of the renewed unity and dignity of the human race eph. Using known pauline and nonpauline letters as training data, we built nine highly reliable predictors, which collectively predicted that the book of hebrews was not authored by paul. Therefore, prior to carefully exegeting ephesians, it is important to gain an understanding of the epistles authorship, its recipients, its historical background, and its themes and central message. This would further seem to suggest, as i have believed, that not only did paul write the book of colossians, but that he wrote colossians before writing the book. The study of ephesians page 2 8 christian is the savior of the body 5. Biblical scholars are divided over the authorship of ephesians and colossians. We will only recognize jesus christ in this book if we know him already.
When it comes to the authorship of ephesians, my stance at this point is that it is in fact written by paul as is stated in ephesians 1. When they heard this they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus. The argument of vocabulary seems plausible at best. Paul, timothy, and silas helped to establish or strengthen the church on pauls 3 rd mission trip into asia minor. The letter to the ephesians provokes interpretive questions of authorship, audience, date, occasion, and purpose of writing. Authorship of the pauline epistles religionwiki fandom. In fact, pauline authorship was not questioned until the late 18 th century. A commentary on the epistle to the ephesians charles hodge. Eventually, the city clerk was able to bring order to the theater and dismiss the crowd. The hypostasis of the archons, written sometime in the third century, cites the same verse and attributes the book of ephesians to paul. Ephesians contains more hymns and liturgical material than any other letter.
The church has long accepted that paul was the author of the letter to the ephesians. The authorship and destination of ephesians citeseerx. Some consider the anonymous epistle to the hebrews a fourteenth pauline epistle. And first after his salutation, he assureth them of. An exegetical commentary by harold hoehner, pp 261. Abbott, a critical and exegetical commentary on the epistles to the ephesians and to the colossians, icc, pp. And when paul had laid his hands upon them, the holy ghost came. It first presents both the historical and literary contexts followed by an overview of the passage in the context of the letter as a whole. The epistle to the ephesians introduction author the apostle paul 1. This point is established by strong evidence, both internal and external. The name paul appears in thirteen epistles, but is he the real author.
We therefore welcome all the more warmly the following contribution to the debate which is based on a paper given to the tsf group in oxford. Ichose not to provide detailed discussion of who wrote ephesians in the com. Ephesians our blessings in christ importance this epistle was evidently addressed to the church in ephesus cf. Ephesians was composed during pauls stay in caesarea. A common proposal is that paul wrote the letter to the colossians to deal with. Ephesians 1 1paul, an apostle of christ jesus by the will of god, to the saints who are in ephesus, and are faithfula in christ jesus. I recommend this volume to anyone who is not familiar with the basic themes of this epistle. Irenaeus explicitly identifies paul as the author of ephesians, as does marcion.
Constables notes on ephesians 2020 edition for some interpreters, the reference in 2 timothy 4. Vocabulary and stylealmost 100 words and phrases in ephesians are not found elsewhere in paul. Pauline authorship of ephesians was universally accepted until modern times. The epistle to the ephesians, also called the letter to the ephesians and often shortened to ephesians, is the tenth book of the new testament. The arguments which have been made against it since that time, as identified in obriens commentary, are as follows.
It is the revelation of jesus christ, which god gave him. Before reflecting on the text of ephesians we need to look at the question of authorship. While paul was prisoner at rome, there entered in among the ephesians false teachers, who corrupted the true doctrine which he had taught them, by reason whereof he wrote this epistle to confirm them in that thing, which they had learned of him. Interacting critically with this intense debate, lynn cohick provides an exegetically. Some have taken the absence of the usual personal greetings and the verbal similarity of many parts to colossians, among other reasons, as grounds for doubting authorship by the apostle paul. Ephesians the niv application commentary book 10 download. Some general comments about the book of revelation and its uniqueness. Sproul has himself written a very helpful introductory level commentary on it titled the purpose of god. Ephesians towers over pauls thirteen known epistles in its exaltation of the glory of god and his grace toward the church. Study of pauline epistles in the new testament using. From the solitude of caesars jail, paul wrote four letters, com monly known as prison epistles.
Barth affirms the authorship of ephesians, and colossians with it, as pauline, but he ultimately points out that it matters very little to him either way. It is a circular despatch, covering general matters of. Welcome,you are looking at books for reading, the ephesians the niv application commentary book 10, you will able to read or download in pdf or epub books and notice some of author may have lock the live reading for some of country. However, the similarities between ephesians and colossians have led most scholars to. Interacting critically with this intense debate, lynn cohick provides an exegetically astute analysis of the six chapters of ephesians. Nov 27, 2009 when it comes to the authorship of ephesians, my stance at this point is that it is in fact written by paul as is stated in ephesians 1. This document has been generated from xsl extensible stylesheet language source with renderx xep formatter, version 3. Bruce, nic on colossians, philemon, and ephesians rev. He defended pauline authorship admirably and presented an orthodox reading while giving proper consideration ephesias the contemporary context. Authorship of ephesians baker publishing group ephesians was written by the apostle paul. Unlike other books like romans or 1 and 2 corinthians which are undisputedly pauline, it has been debated whether ephesians and colossians along with 2 thes. Dec, 2008 ephesians is a profound book, and our own dr. As a second paradigm, multivariate analysis can be applied to project each document repre.
Barth presents an internal argument for this, which means he examines the texts and compares them with other undisputed letters to answer the question of authenticity. The letter to the ephesians download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl. Objections to pauls authorship the first objections to pauls authorship of ephesians arose among scripture scholars in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century on the basis of internal evidence, that is, content that seemed inconsistent with pauls authorship. After this, paul called the disciples together, embraced them, and departed for macedonia acts 20. Paul had spent nearly three years in ephesus acts 19. The study of ephesians page 1 lesson one introduction to the study of ephesians the church at ephesus was one of the outstanding churches of this early period of time. Authorship the pauline authorship of ephesians is clearly affirmed in the text 1. The book of ephesians grace given and grace applied an introduction and outline authorship. Peter williamson contributed the volume on ephesians for the catholic commentary on sacred scripture.
Except for hebrews see antilegomena, the pauline authorship of these letters was not academically questioned until the nineteenth century, though there certainly was dispute. The traditional view is that paul is the author as is claimed. For a defense of the pauline authorship of ephesians, see ephesians. Answering bible contradictions, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations.
Facts about ephesians author, date and place of writing the author identifies himself as paul 1. The letter to the ephesian church is regarded as one of the masterworks of the nt, but it is also one of those books that the critics like to say wasnt authored by paul. A sage journals the passage in ephesians that compares the union of husband and wife to that of christ and the. The book of ephesians grace given and grace applied an.
Its authorship has traditionally been attributed to paul the apostle but starting in 1792, this has been challenged as deuteropauline, that is, written in pauls name by a later author strongly influenced by pauls thought, probably by a loyal. Sprouls work, the following are five of the most helpful commentaries on the book of ephesians. What stands out about ephesians is the awe with which it contemplates the mystery of the church. It isnt easy, however, to find sane discussions of this issue. It is also worth the price for the the lengthy list of recommended reading that accompanies the. Commentary to revelation free online downloadable pdf. Acts 19, but may have been intended as a circular letter to be read by neighboring churches. Every day on my 3045 minute commute, i turned over these words in my mind and heart. The ephesian letter doctrinally considered by lewis sperry chafer 1935 contents dedication preface section one ephesians 1. Therefore it need a free signup process to obtain the book. The letter has the most to say about the universal church and lacks the sort of specific problems which form the occasion for each of the previous letter of paul. Ephesians places the burden of proof on contrary hypotheses.
Authorship of pauline epistles revisited article pdf available in journal of the association for information science and technology january 2019 with 551 reads how we measure reads. Karl barth on the authorship of ephesians and colossians. Study of pauline epistles in the new testament using machine. Style and genre in ephesians q m t qdonovan the authorship of ephesians is an increasingly open question in current discussion.
May 22, 2012 the scholarly consensus on the authorship of ephesians is that paul did not write it. The vision which opens the book and the verse that organizes it. Early sources in church history that attribute this letter to paul include. Its authorship has traditionally been attributed to paul the apostle but starting in 1792, this has been challenged as deuteropauline, that is, written in pauls name by a later author strongly influenced by pauls thought, probably by a. Though paul is named as the author, this has been questioned in modern times and the majority of scholars today are of the opinion that it is written by someone other than paul. I think this is mistaken and i find the arguments in favor of pseudonymity to be seriously unconvincing. Overview of the book of ephesians reformed answers to. While manuscripts vary on the destination, all agree that paul is the author.
Hoehner begins with a helpful introduction to the letter of ephesians in which he addresses issues of authorship, structure and genre, historical setting, purpose, and theology. The author except for the pastorals, ephesians has the worst credentials for authenticity, in critical circles, among all of pauls epistles. The clear external evidence pointing to paul as the author of ephesians places the burden of proof on contrary hypotheses. A commentary on ephesians download ebook pdf, epub. The city of ephesus the population of the city of ephesus. A commentary on the epistle to the ephesians by charles hodge. The pauline epistles are the thirteen books in the new testament traditionally attributed to, and explicitly ascribed to, paul of tarsus. A commentary on ephesians download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Today a number of scholars claim that it was written in pauls name by an unknown follower or imitator of paul, and they give two. Outside this epistle to the ephesians, perhaps the most important scripture bearing on the ministry of. According to the opening paragraph of the article for the book of ephesians on wikipedia, it is not universally held that ephesians was written by paul. Unlike pauls other letters, this one is not addressed to particular churches or individuals, with their own needs and problems even ephesians is not in all the early copies.
It makes perfect sense that some of his letters differ in style and vocabulary usage. Letters romans, 1 and 2 corinthians, galatians, ephesians, philippians. Chapter 11 the prison epistles western reformed seminary. Pdf the name paul appears in epistles, but is he the real author. Mar 10, 2019 he defended pauline authorship admirably and presented an orthodox reading while giving proper consideration ephesias the contemporary context. The scholarly consensus on the authorship of ephesians is that paul did not write it. As was stated, this emphasizes the human nature of our lord jesus christ.
1370 134 872 1351 1000 1349 23 614 709 219 1235 204 403 408 679 1051 737 516 768 1424 1474 12 348 444 131 1339 1149 1461 829 1370 305 612