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Jun 05 2009

My Notes on Ephesians 1:1-2

Published by Dim Bulb under Bible, Notes on Ephesians

By “clicking on” the “Notes On Ephesians” link under this blog’s header you can access notes far better than mine.

1:1 Paul: See here for a brief Life Of Paul and an account of his conversion.

“First, by his name, Paul, concerning which one should consider three things [nn 17-19].
First, its accuracy; for this name, as it is spelled here, cannot be Hebrew because Hebrew does not have the letter P in its alphabet; but it can be Greek and Latin. Still, if it be taken as some letter close to P, it can be Hebrew.
Secondly, one should consider its meaning. Considered as Hebrew, it means “wonderful” or “chosen”; taken as Greek, it means “quiet;” taken as Latin it means “small.”
And these meanings suit him. For he was chosen as regards grace; hence “he is a chosen vessel of mine” (Ac 9:15). He was wonderful in his work: “A marvelous vessel, the work of the Most High” (Si 43:2). He was quiet in contemplation: “When I enter my house, I shall find rest with her” (Wis 8:16). He was small by humility: “I am the least of the apostles: (1 Cor 15:9)” (St Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans).

“The principal sender of this letter is first identified by his name, Paul, that is, one who is humble, for it is such persons who receive wisdom: “Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes” (Mt 11:25), and so Paul can teach this wisdom” (Aquinas, Commentary on Colossians). In his commentary on First Corinthians Aquinas also appeals to 1 Sam 15:17 which reads:

an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God: Paul is one who is sent (ex apostellos) by God, through Christ, with the power of the Spirit. “Not by human appointment, or authority, but in accordance with the will of God, and His command. That will was made known to him by the special revelation granted to him at his conversion, and call to the apostleship; Acts 9. Paul often refers to the fact that he had received a direct commission from God, and that he did not act on his own authority; compare Gal_1:11-12; 1Co_9:1-6; 2Co_11:22-33; 2Co_12:1-12.” (Albert Barnes, Protestant).

The phrase serves to emphasize Paul’s authority and, consequently, the authority of the letter; in this regard it serves the same function as the superscription of most of the writing prophets.

The letter speaks explicitly of God’s will six times and the subject is implied throughout, making this the dominant theme of the letter. see Eph_1:1; Eph_1:5; Eph_1:9; Eph_1:11; Eph_5:17; Eph_6:6.

St Paul is an apostle by the will of God (1:1), who has predestined us to adoption through Christ, in accord with His will (1:5). Through the ministry of St Paul, the Apostles, and the Church God has made known to us the mystery of His will (1:9) of having re-established all thing in heaven and on earth in Christ. In Christ we have been called to share in His inheritance, predestined according to the purpose of the Father who works all things according to His wise counsel/plan (1:10-11). Already Paul is emphasising the gratuity of these gifts, another major theme of the letter. But we are called upon to respond under grace to these gifts, understanding what is the will of God and acting accordingly (Eph 4:25-6:24, especially 5:17 and 6:6).

to all the saints at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. The words “at Ephesus” are missing from some of the best manuscripts, including Vaticanus and Sinaticus, though the words do appear in marginal notes in those mss. In addition they are missing from the Chester Beatty Papyrus, and Origen, St Basil and St Jerome knew of copies without the words. This has lead some to speculate that the letter was in fact the missive to the Laodiceans mentioned in Col 4:16. To bolster this arguement they note the lack of personal reference in this letter, an odd lucunae in a letter to a Church like Ephesus with which St Paul was familiar. Others contend that the letter was circular in nature, not addressed to any particular church, consequently, when the letter was read to the assembly the reader was supposed to insert the name of the Church at the spot where “at Ephesus” appears.

Saints. The Greek word hagios means holy, and is related to Hebrew words such as qadosh and qodesh. “Holy describes what is divine and pertains to God. Sanctity then is more than a divine attribute. It is His most intimate essence in which He radically transcends all that is created. To say then that God is holy and that only He is holy (isa 6:3) is almost repetitious,but on man’s lips it makes sense, for it is his way of expressing the radical otherness of God who reveals Himself as Creator and Savior. “I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you” (Hos 11:9)[NEW WORLD DICTIONARY-CONCORDANCE TO THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE].

Holiness is something dynamic, and anything brought into relationship with God becomes holy, that is, it can/should no longer be the object of profane use. It becomes consecrated to God, His possession: “Israel is holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his increase: all they that devour him offend: evils shall come upon them, saith the Lord” (Jer 2:3). Here we see the close connection between holiness and election. Being popssessed/consecrated by God demands a response: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am Holy” (Lev17:26).

Eph 4:17 This then I say and testify in the Lord: That henceforward you walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind:
Eph 4:18 Having their understanding darkened: being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts.
Eph 4:19 Who despairing have given themselves up to lasciviousness, unto the working of all uncleanness, unto covetousness.
Eph 4:20 But you have not so learned Christ:
Eph 4:21 If so be that you have heard him and have been taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Eph 4:22 To put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error.
Eph 4:23 And be renewed in spirit of your mind:
Eph 4:24 And put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth.
Eph 4:25 Wherefore, putting away lying, speak ye the truth, every man with his neighbour. For we are members one of another.
Eph 4:26 Be angry: and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger.
Eph 4:27 Give not place to the devil.
Eph 4:28 He that stole, let him now steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need.
Eph 4:29 Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth: but that which is good, to the edification of faith: that it may administer grace to the hearers.
Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God: whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness and anger and indignation and clamour and blasphemy be put away from you, with all malice.
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another: merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ.
Eph 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children:
Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and hath delivered himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness.
Eph 5:3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints:
Eph 5:4 Or obscenity or foolish talking or scurrility, which is to no purpose: but rather giving of thanks.
Eph 5:5 For know you this and understand: That no fornicator or unclean or covetous person (which is a serving of idols) hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Eph 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief.
Eph 5:7 Be ye not therefore partakers with them.
Eph 5:8 For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light.
Eph 5:9 For the fruit of the light is in all goodness and justice and truth:
Eph 5:10 Proving what is well pleasing to God.
Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness: but rather reprove them.
Eph 5:12 For the things that are done by them in secret, it is a shame even to speak of.
Eph 5:13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for all that is made manifest is light.
Eph 5:14 Wherefore he saith: Rise, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead: and Christ shall enlighten thee.
Eph 5:15 See therefore, brethren, how you walk circumspectly: not as unwise,
Eph 5:16 But as wise: redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Eph 5:17 Wherefore, become not unwise: but understanding what is the will of God.
Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury: but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit,
Eph 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord:
Eph 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father.

Faithful. Faith comes through hearing the proclaimation of the Gospel by those who are sent (Rom 10:14-15; Gal 3:2; Col 1:3-8). The Ephesians heard “the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation” and believed in Christ (Eph 1:13) and this fact motivates St Paul’s thanksgiving for them in (Eph 1:15 ff).

Eph 1:2 Grace be to you and peace, from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace here designates the full covenant bounty of God. Peace is the total state of well-being. Note that source of these things Is the Father, and that they are mediated through our Lord.

Aquinas notes: May this (i.e., grace and peace) be to you from God our Father from whom every good comes: “Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jas. 1:17). And the Lord Jesus Christ without whom no blessings are given. That is why nearly all the [liturgical] prayers are concluded “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Holy Spirit is not mentioned in the greeting formula since he is the bond uniting Father and Son and is understood when they are mentioned; or he is understood in the gifts appropriated to him, grace and peace.10

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Apr 26 2008

A Preface to St Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians.

Published by Dim Bulb under Bible, Notes on Ephesians

On June 28th of last year, Pope Benedict XVI announced a Jubilee Year in honor of the 2,000th anniversary of Saint Paul’s birth. It is to begin on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 28, 2008, and conclude on June 29, 2009. I hope during this time to offer copious notes on the writings of St Paul-both my own and others-and, towards this end, I here offer a preface to St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, written by Bernardine de Piconio.

The Epistle, written while St. Paul was a prisoner at Rome, is entitled as addressed to the Christians of Ephesus, the famous capital city of the Roman province of Asia. Ancient writers have sometimes referred to and quoted it as addressed to the Christians of Laodicea. The probability is that it was an encyclical letter or circular letter intended for all the Christians of Asia, and primarily that of Ephesus. The title in the earlier copies (mystically explained by St Basil, Eunon. lib. II. 2 p. 733) purports that it is addressed to the Saints who are-omitting the name of any particular place-and the faithful in Christ Jesus. In verse 1 the blank is filled in with at Ephesus. At the conclusion the Apostle salutes not the Ephesians only, but all Christians of Asia, and instead of writing, as usual, peace to you, he writes peace to the brethren. And it was sometimes spoken of as the Epistle to the Laodiceans, as by Tertullian, in Contra Marcion.

The Apostle had converted many of the Ephesians to the faith of Christ during a residence of three years in their city; and his present object is to confirm them in the faith and instruct them more fully in the sublimer mysteries of the Christian religion. There was another and more urgent object which he has in view, for the faith of the Ephesian Christians was seriously imperiled by the efforts of the Judaizers on the one hand, and on the other by the followers of Simon Magnus, whose wild errors, disguised under the veil of a subtle and imposing system of philosophy, were beginning to spread over the Roman Empire. They maintained, among other false doctrines which will have to be referred to further on, that angels, and not Christ, are the true mediators between God and man, and that it is to the angels, and not to Christ, that we are to have recourse for reconciliation with God. The first three chapters of the Epistle treat of eternal predestination, of man’s redemption by the death of Christ, of the vocation of the Gentiles, of the union of the Gentiles and Jews, men and angels, under the scepter of Christ, the great Head of the Church, who is raised above all creation. In the concluding chapters the Apostle lays down the principles and precepts of the Christian life in all its relations and conditions. For both the Judaizers and the followers of Simon erred alike, in manners as in faith.

The style of the Epistle, as every reader of it must have observed, differs conspicuously from that of all the other writings of St Paul. Erasmus remarks that it would appear to have been written y another hand, were it not that its drift and meaning, and the doctrine it conveys, proceeds evidently from the mind of St Paul. The difference is ascribable to the more serious and terrible nature of the heresies which the Apostle is compelled to expose and refute. In addressing the Galatians, he could appeal to their common sense, almost their sense of ridicule, against the Judaic compliances which were exacted from them by worldly and self-seeking men, or in refutation of unfounded charges brought against himself. But in repelling the awful and monstrous delusions, concealed under the guise of philosophy, which were put forward by the impiety of Simon and his adherents, he is compelled to ascend to the higher regions of theological truth, and use language of greater solemnity, not unlike that which was directed, a few years later, against the same or similar errors, by St Peter and St Jude, and in the second of his own Epistles to St Timothy, and later still, by the Evangelist St John. All early writers have noticed in the Epistle to the Ephesians a deeper wisdom, energy, and fervour, than in the others composed during the same period of imprisonment, as if the writer were panting after martyrdom, and breathed forth something of the divine fire and celestial illumination which enlightened and consumed his soul.

There is, however, some difference of opinion as to whether it was composed during St Paul’s first or second imprisonment at Rome, of which the latter terminated in his martyrdom. Theodoret (Preface to the Epistles of St Paul) thinks it was written during the first imprisonment, and sent by Tychius, together with the Epistle to the Colossians. Baronius also considers that it was written at that time, and sent by Tychius, and with it the second Epistle to Timothy. Other writers also think that it was sent together with the second to Timothy, but that oth were written during the second imprisonment, and shortly before the Apostle’s martyrdom, which took place June 29, 67. On this subject see M. de Tillemont, note 78 on St Paul and Memoires, tom. I. )Excerpted from AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLES OF ST PAUL, Volume 2, by Bernardin de Picquigny. He is also known as Bernardine de Piconio, he was a member of the Capuchin Order and lived from 1633 to 1707, or 1709. In addition to his 3 volume work on St Paul’s Epistles, he also wrote commentaries on the four Gospels,)

RESOURCES:

Introduction from the NAB
The Catholic Encyclopedia
e-Cantena a compilation of quotes and allusions to Ephesians found in the Church Fathers.
Father Mitch Pacwa Thirteen one-half hour audio programs online.

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