EPHESUS LETTER

 

SUMMARY OF THE EPHESUS LETTER

 

Authenticity

 

This letter in the 19th century argued that it was not Paul who wrote this letter. But with internal evidence that the greetings preached in this letter are identical to the way Paul wrote in his other letters. Externally the letter of Ephesians which is called the letter of Laodicea received by people in 140 AD has been acknowledged that this letter was written by Paul. From the structure of writing this letter is the same as the other letters that Paul wrote, the similarity of language and style of writing, and by comparing the letter of Ephesians with the letter of Colossians which is acknowledged by the church fathers as the legal author is Paul. Theological similarity, almost everything contained in this letter is the hallmark of Paul in making letters to the church, and this letter can be called the crown of Paul's letters. Historical data is difficult to find to be able to construct evidence for Paul's writing, but from historical data it can be concluded that this letter was written at the beginning of church history because it does not mention the ecclesiastical arrangement, it does not mention the persecution of the congregation which indicates that this letter was written at the time of the apostles.

 

Views against Paul's authorship are grouped into 4, namely:

1.      The objections of language and style, where theologians who have examined this letter, that there is a vocabulary that is not typical of Paul which is usually written in his letters, such as the word diabolos, the preposition oak and the word appear unnatural to Paul and the elements of the new word are closely related with Luke-Acts, 1 Clement, 1 Peter, and Hebrews written in the late first century. And there is a view that the writer of this letter was a successor to Paul who wrote the introduction to Paul's collection of writings.

2.      The objection to the style of writing, again considering the vocabulary in Colossians has similarities with the Ephesians, considering Paul's ability to write it is impossible for him to repeat words and phrases, but with different meanings. There is a resemblance to this letter with the Gospel of John, there is a person who wrote this letter because he admired the figure of Paul so that in his words there was an oddity according to Mitton the phrase "to me, the least of all saints", indeed you have heard the task of administering God's grace entrusted to me." “…the mystery of Christ.” (3:2, 4, 8) what these theologians think is the writing of someone else trying to be a genuine Paul.

3.      Historical Objection, against the theory of external evidence Paul wrote this letter, they considered that writing under pseudonyms was a common practice at that time, they equated it with New Testament letters / books such as 2 Peter, Jude, James, Revelation, 1 Peter, and the pastoral letters. And one of the strongest historical factors considered against Paul's authorship is the status of the controversy between Jews and Gentiles, where in this letter it appears that the controversy has ended, while in other letters it is still ongoing. And it is concluded that this controversy could not have been resolved while Paul was still alive.

 

4.      Doctrinal objections, this objection is divided into three parts, namely:

 

-          There are differences in Paul's teaching about church doctrine,

-          Paul's Christology in this letter is considered to be different from the others,

-          Paul's social teaching in Ephesians is also considered different.

 

Defending Paul's Authorship

 

a.       By starting that external evidence is strong evidence to defend Paul's authorship, because external evidence is unfavorable to theories that deny Paul's authorship, so by using stronger internal evidence, theories that accept Paul's authorship can counter theories that deny Paul's authorship.

b.      In defense of language and style, there is no reason for Paul not to be able to use new vocabulary in writing his letter. Comparison of vocabulary with the books of the end of the first century will only be a stumbling block for those who believe that these books were only written at the end of the first century, because only 1 Clement is certain to have been written at the end of the first century.

c.       In defense of the style of writing, an imitator of course tries to find parallel verses and look for similarities to the Epistle of Ephesians with the other Epistles, and the Epistle of Philippians being used as an example for comparison means oversimplifying a very complicated process. And it may be that Paul is writing this letter being overwhelmed with such deep impressions of God's grace that it makes sense that he should humble himself. And he is not self-evaluating but looks like he is praising himself for the understanding that God has revealed to him. And it is impossible for a deceiver to admire and appreciate Paul so impressed in this Epistle to Ephesians. The historical defense, the defense of the Jewish and Gentile controversy is that we cannot make any deductions as to whether or not there is controversy in any of Paul's letters. and by asking questions such as a) is it possible for one to refer to non-Jews by using the term “separation wall” after 70 AD, when Jerusalem was in ruins? b) was it possible that in AD 70 other than Paul could understand the privilege of the Israelites, could say such a thing? c) is it possible for Paul to say this if what he is describing is an ideal and not a realized union of Jews and Gentiles?, can disprove this theory.

d.      In doctrinal defense, those who reject Paul's authorship try to find evidence to support their theory, but because it is so difficult they make the claim that the evidence is discussed as a whole rather than one by one.

 

Conclusion for Discussion on Paul's Authorship

 

There is no substantial evidence to disprove Paul's authorship with the support of external and internal evidence. Although for some theologians using pseudonyms in writing was common among early Christians, it is unlikely that someone disguised himself as Paul and had his letter received by the congregation than Paul himself wrote the letter. And if Paul ordered his secretary to write Ephesians it would be very difficult to accept because the secretary would find it difficult to have all of Paul's letters referred to in Ephesians, the type of writing would have no resemblance but would only look like wording, and it would be difficult to find an adequate motive why Paul use a procedure like this.

 

 

LETTER RECEIVER

 

This letter may have been accepted by the church in Laodicea although there is no manuscript evidence that replaced Ephesus with Laodicea. It is also possible that the recipients are saints, believers in Christ Jesus which refers to that this letter is a circular letter to Christian congregations in Asia and other provinces. it is also possible that this letter was Paul's last words because he was in prison, because perhaps he wanted to summarize his doctrine, but this is difficult to accept because the address of this letter is for the universal church, although personal references are not clear. It is also possible that the recipient of this letter is the corpus of Paul although it is not clear and it does not make sense to accept this theory because this letter is not entirely a conclusion from Paul's doctrine. It is also possible that this letter was a letter explaining the philosophy of religion to all of Christendom sponsored by the Ephesians, but there is no solid evidence for this.

So it is difficult to determine to whom Paul wrote Ephesians because it is so difficult to conclude from various views that it seems correct and has sufficient evidence, so while it can be concluded that the recipient of this letter is like the above.

 

WRITING PURPOSE

Giving doctrine on Christology with a background without any interference from other parties.

 

CALENDAR

This letter was written in AD 53-60 during Paul's imprisonment in Rome at the same time as the writing of the letter Galatians, with evidence that Paul was in prison (Eph. 3:1; 4:1), suggesting that the two letters are related.

 

Thank you, God bless.

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