cum dicit “ Sanctis qui sunt fidelibus Ephesi” quid adjungitur? ‘In Christo Jesu” (Mai, Script. Vet. nova Collect., iii., p. 87). Ata much later period Sedulius Scotus also comments on the passage thus: Sanctis. Non omnibus Ephesiis, sed his qui creduntin Christo. Et fidelibus. Omnes sancti fideles sunt, non omnes fideles sancti, etc. Qui sunt in Christo Jesu. Plures fideles sunt sed non in Christo, etc. (cf. Lightfoot, Biblical Essays, pp. 384, 385, and Abbott, ut supra, pp. ii, iii), The strength of the case on the side of Textual Criticism, however, lies with 8B and the testimonies of Marcion, Origen and Basil. It amounts to this, that there is no evidence that the words ἐν ᾿Εφέσῳ formed part of the Greek text of the first three centuries. It is not till we come to the latter half of the fourth century that we have any certain indication of the local designation being included in the inscription, and that indication is found in Basil’s implied dis- tinction between the ancient copies (τοῖς παλαιοῖς τῶν ἀντιγράφων) and others.
But the question does not terminate there. The character of the Epistle itself and the relations between Paul and the Ephesian Church form weighty elements in the case. Everything goes to show how intimate these relations were, how peculiar was the place that this Church had in the Apostle’s heart, how much it was his care. Not only was he the founder of the Church of Ephesus, but he spent some three years preaching and teaching in the city. During that long residence his interest in his Ephesian converts was so keen and anxious and his labours in their behalf so great that he describes himself as “‘ ceasing not to warn every one day and night with tears” (Acts xx. 31). Various things that are mentioned or alluded to in his Epistles indicate how constantly he had them in his mind. And the farewell which he took of their elders at Miletus is among the most pathetic passages of the NT. On his side there were words of tender solicitude and loving warning; on theirs thankfulness, affection, an emotion so profound that they “fell on his neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more”. It is difficult to suppose that Paul could have written a letter intended specifically for this Church without giving some indication of what it was to him personally, without some reference to what he had done for it and the grateful response which his labours had found in it, without letting his feeling towards its meimbers express itself in some form.
Yet this Epistle is in all these respects a singularly neutral com- position, without the personal note that makes itself felt in such Epistles as those to Corinth and Philippi, with nothing to say about