Chosen, saved, united: Ephesians 1-3

Ephesus was the leading city of the Roman province of Asia, a port with a large population, the great temple of Artemis and a mixture of Greek, Roman, Jewish and eastern religion. Paul first visited it briefly (Acts 18:19-21) and then stayed about three years on his third journey (Acts 19; 20:31). Acts tells of the spread of the word through the whole province, of a riot led by the silversmiths who made shrines of Artemis, and of Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders at Miletus (Acts 20:17-38).

Ephesians presents itself as a letter from Paul, a prisoner (3:1; 4:1; 6:20), to the saints, who are Gentiles by origin (2:11; 3:1). Several features puzzle scholars. The words 'in Ephesus' in 1:1 are missing from some of the oldest manuscripts, and the letter contains no personal greetings, although Paul had spent years in the city. Some conclude it was a circular letter sent to churches in the region, the Ephesian copy being the best known. Others hold that the words belong, and note that the letter's general tone fits its origin as a letter written by a prisoner to a church that already knew him well.

Authorship is also debated. The church from the second century held that Paul wrote it. Many modern scholars think a close follower wrote in Paul's name, because of the style (very long sentences), vocabulary not found in the undisputed letters, a more developed view of the church, and overlap with Colossians. Others reply that the subject is new, that a secretary may have shaped the language, and that the substance is Paul's. This class reads the letter as Pauline and notes that the teaching can be studied under either view. If Paul wrote it from Rome, the date is around AD 60-62; the other places proposed for the prison letters are Caesarea and Ephesus.

Ephesians is a letter, but its shape is unusual. Chapters 1-3 are mostly praise, prayer and teaching about what God has done in Christ. Chapters 4-6 turn to the life of the church. The first half contains almost no commands (the first is the call to remember in 2:11), and the whole structure reflects the order of Paul's thought: grace first, then the life that grows from it.

The opening blessing (1:3-14) is a single sentence in Greek, a long chain of phrases that all depend on 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ'. The phrase 'in Christ', or 'in him', recurs throughout. Scholars note the closeness of the style to Jewish prayers of blessing. The rule is to read the sentence as worship, not as an abstract system. The material on election is not a puzzle about who is excluded; Paul writes to praise God for what has been given.

The second rule is to notice the letter's attention to Jew and Gentile. Much of chapter 2 and chapter 3 deals with the union of the two peoples in one body. Ephesians is therefore about the church's identity as well as individual salvation. When Paul says 'you' in 2:1-10 and 2:11-22 he is speaking to Gentile believers, and 'we' often speaks of Jewish believers or of Paul's company.

A third rule concerns language about spiritual powers (1:21; 2:2; 3:10; 6:12). Paul assumes a world with real powers opposed to God and affirms that Christ is far above them. The letter does not give a theory of them but a confidence about the outcome.

1:3-14. Paul blesses God who has blessed believers in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The blessings that follow are in a series. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us for adoption (huiothesia) as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. In the Beloved we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. God made known the mystery of his will: to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, and the believers, who heard the word of truth, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee (arrabon) of the inheritance. The refrain 'to the praise of his glory' closes three sections, around the Father's choice, the Son's redemption and the Spirit's seal.

1:15-23. Paul gives thanks for their faith and love and prays that God will give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation, with eyes of the heart enlightened to know three things: the hope of his calling, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and the immeasurable greatness of his power. That power was shown when God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand, far above all rule, authority, power and dominion, and put all things under his feet (an echo of Psalm 8:6 and 110:1). God gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

2:1-10. The Gentile readers were 'dead' in trespasses and sins, following the course of this world, the ruler of the power of the air, and the passions of the flesh. Paul includes himself and other Jews ('all of us'): all were by nature children of wrath. But God, rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ, raised us and seated us with him in the heavenly places. Salvation is by grace, through faith. It is not their own doing but the gift of God, and not a result of works, so that no one may boast. We are his workmanship (poiema), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The Greek word for 'this' is neuter, so it probably points to the whole of salvation by grace through faith, not faith alone.

2:11-22. Paul tells the Gentiles to remember that they were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ they have been brought near by his blood. Christ himself is their peace: he has made the two groups one and broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances. The image is probably drawn from the barrier in the Jerusalem temple that kept Gentiles out of the inner courts, with notices (two have been found) warning them of death if they went further. Acts 21:28-29 records a charge that Paul brought a Gentile from Ephesus into the temple. Christ's purpose was to create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, reconciling both to God in one body through the cross. Through him both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So the Gentiles are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, growing into a holy temple in the Lord.

3:1-13. Paul, a prisoner for the Gentiles, says that the mystery was made known to him by revelation: that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. This was not made known in other generations as it has now been revealed. Paul was made a servant of this gospel by grace, the least of all the saints, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ and bring to light the plan of the mystery, so that through the church the wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

3:14-21. Paul kneels before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, and prays that they would be strengthened in the inner being by the Spirit, that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith, and that they, rooted and grounded in love, might comprehend the breadth, length, height and depth, and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and be filled with all the fullness of God. The doxology gives glory to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations.

The letter sets out the plan of salvation in a Trinitarian shape: the Father chooses and adopts, the Son redeems, the Spirit seals. Election in 1:4-5 has been read in several ways. Reformed theology reads it as God's unconditional choice of individuals before creation. Lutheran readings stress that election is in Christ and is a ground of comfort and not a doctrine to be calculated. Arminian and Wesleyan writers often read it as corporate: the church is chosen in Christ, and individuals enter it by faith, or as election based on God's foreknowledge. Catholic and Orthodox traditions hold both God's priority and human cooperation. All these traditions agree that the text is written as praise and that salvation is from God.

• The second doctrine is grace and faith. Salvation is by grace through faith and not from works, yet it is for good works, which God prepared. Paul's phrase prevents both pride and passivity.
• The third is the church: one body, one temple, one household of Jews and Gentiles. The cosmic scope is notable. God's plan is to unite all things in Christ, and the church is the first evidence before the powers. The final theme is the love of God, which Paul prays the church will know.

Ephesians 1-3 is saturated with Christ. In 1:3-14 every blessing is 'in him'. He is the Beloved, the agent of redemption by blood, the one in whom all things are to be summed up. In 1:20-23 Paul takes Psalm 110:1 and Psalm 8:6 together: Christ is raised and seated at God's right hand, with all things under his feet, and made head of the church. Both psalms are applied to Christ elsewhere in the New Testament (Acts 2:34-35; 1 Corinthians 15:25-27; Hebrews 1:13; 2:5-9). The ascended Lord rules the powers.

In 2:11-22 Christ is 'our peace'. Isaiah 57:19 speaks of peace for those far and near, and Ephesians 2:17 applies it to the coming of Christ, who preached peace to those far off and to those near. The temple language fulfils another Old Testament line: God's dwelling is no longer a building but the people joined to Christ, the cornerstone (compare Isaiah 28:16; Psalm 118:22; 1 Peter 2:4-8). In the cross he put to death the hostility and reconciled both groups to God.

In chapter 3 the mystery is Christ in this new community. It is the fulfilment of what God promised Abraham, that in him all nations would be blessed (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:8). The prayer in 3:14-19 asks that Christ dwell in their hearts and that they know his love.