720 EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO
EPHESUS
round about you, as about tlie Jews of old or about the Rora. Empire now, there are enemies, spiritual enemies ; you must be ready botli for defence and for attack, for you have to tight God's battles, and to represent His cause and to illustrate His wisdom in the eyes of the angels. Peace, Love, and Faith : these are the graces wliich I ask for you.
Such was the substance of the letter : whether St. Paul inserted any address must be uncertain. Either he inserted iv 'E0^<rv, but as Tychicus was intended to leave it at other Churches too, other names were inserted by these Churches in their own copies, or more prooably a blank was left from the first that Tychicus might fill it up with the name of each Church to which he read the letter ; possibly, again, several copies may have been made at Rome for the dili'erent Churches, and carried by Tychicus. It ia a legacy of peace left to the CJnurch by Paul the aged, 'das Testament des greisen Apostels' (Jiilicher) ; 'one of the divinest compositions of man ' (Coleridge, Table Talk) ; vori- fidruv ^(TTTj 7] iTTiffToXi] v-'priKGiv Kal 6oyiiA.T(av{%. Chrys. Comm.) ; truth expressed 'sub specie gratiarum actionis ' (Theod. Mops, on 1^). ' Though the vehement moods of tlie earlier contests have sub- sided, many parts of the Ep. glow with a steady white heat (Hort, p. 153). It is a letter rising at times to the level of a poem, ' the Christian's (iSth Psalm ' * (Dr. Kay) ; ' ipso verhorum tenore et quasi rhythmo canticum imitatur' (Bengel on S""'*) ; 'der ganze erste Haupttheil (1-3) liat liturg- ischen Charakter und erscheint in seinen Hrihe- pnnkten wie einer jener B/Mvoi durch welche nacli Col 3'*, Eph .5-', die Christen sieh belebren goUen' (Von Soden). When St. Paul wrote this letter, he was, as at Philippi, singing hymns in prison.
v. Doctrinal Importance. — The doctrines implied in the whole group of tlie Epp. of the Captivity are well analyzed, and tlieir relation to that of tne prerious Epp. dra«Ti out, in B. Weiss, Bibl. Theol. part iii. § lii. Those whicli are most prominent in this particular Ep. are —
(a) The Universal Fatherhood of God {iraHip ap- plied to God eight times ; in Ro only four times). While the unity of God's nature is the starting- point of the whole argument (4'), yet He is represented as the Fatlier of the Lord Jesus Christ (1'), i.e. there is within the Godhead a relationship of Father and Son, there is a giving forth of lire and love (1' tu rryairTj/x4v(f)), there is a social bond, so that every community, whether of an"els or of men, is named after and reflects the fatherhood of God (3" jrarpid here only in St. Paul). He is in the widest and most absolute sense ' the Father ' (2'» 3" 5» 6^) ; the Father of the glory manifested in men (1") ; the Father of all (4«) ; the Father of us Christians (P).
(6) The Pre-existence of Christ — and this not merely in relation to God, as elsewhere, but in relation to man, so that before the foundation of the world He contains within Himself ideal Humanity (1*), and men have only to grow up into that which He already is (4'*- ") : and also in relation to the whole universe which centred originally in Him, and is re-centred in Him by the Incarnation (1>* ivaKapaXaiiiaaadai, 2" 4" <Iti;X- Xorpioi^^fOl).
(c) The Diqnity of Human Nature, as redeemed \vithin the Cliurch, lifted above this earthly sphere 'nto tlie heavenlies, showing forth the attributes of God Himself to the world, and becoming a link for the wliole creation (1=» 2» 3"- '» 4« [r^j f(ii,j toC Gtou] 4" 6' funvral ToO eeoD, 6* 6").
(rf) The Continuity of all History in the past
• P, 6819 ia quoted In 48 ; there are other possible remini- ecences o[ it ; e.g. cf. Pa * with 51^ ; 10 with l-»8 ■ 17 with 2'.!3 • w »d »• with 1» ; 37 Mid » with sa. M ; «j and *> with 3" 6ii> '
and in the future. Each itaipiSt is regarded as con- tributing its quota to the whole, until tlie wlioU complement of Kaipol sliall be complete (1'" ri TrXJipuna. tCiv Kaipu>i> [cf. Mk 1", Lk 21-*J and 3").
(c) The Essential Unity of tlie Church, as based upon the unity of <!od, as an ideal already realized, yet needing to be secured (4'), and in a sense still future (4'°) ; as practically begun by baptism (4*), and as secured by the gift of an organized ministry, whose purpose is to fit all Christians for the work of servnce (wpds Karaprta^bp tCjv ayiwv c/s fpyov iia- Kovlas), to build up Church life until the complete unity is secured (4"' ").
(/) The Insistence on Wisdom and Knowledge, as an integral and necessary part of the true re- ligious life. This truth, which St. Paul had first proclaimed in the centre of Gr. philosophy at Athens (Ac 17^, cf. Hort, Hulsean Lect. p. 62), is here more explicitly laid down in an epistle to Gentiles. The value of this insistence is all the more striking as addressed to converts who were in- clined to give an apparently undue value to know- ledge. The remedy for a little knowledge is more knowledge.