ANALYSIS
Salutation from Paul and Timothy to Philemon and Apphia (? wife), to
Archippus and the Church in Philemon's house; thanksgiving for
Philemon's faith; a plea for the pardon of Onesimus, St. Paul promises
to be responsible for what was stolen; a lodging to be prepared for St.
Paul; concluding salutations, benediction.
[1] Lightfoot, Colossians and Philemon, p. 325.
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CHAPTER XV
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
[Sidenote: The Author.]
The Pauline authorship of this Epistle is well attested by external evidence. Before 150 we have proof of its wide use among both heretics and Catholics; it is quoted probably by St. Clement and St. Polycarp, and some of its characteristic ideas are to be found in a more developed form in the Shepherd of Hermas. There is one clear reference to it in St. Ignatius, and two other possible references. We trace an interesting connection between the thought of this Epistle and that of the Revelation and the Gospel of St. John (e.g. ch. xvii.) and the First Epistle of St. Peter. Perhaps we may account for it by accepting Renan's suggestion that St. Peter, St. John, and St. Paul were in Rome together. The strongest argument for the Pauline authorship lies in the undesigned coincidences between Ephesians and Romans. In both we notice the same courtesy of manner and sensitive frankness, the same setting forth of God's method of salvation, the same valuation of the relative position of Jews and Gentiles, and of their union in Jesus Christ; the same thought of God's eternal and unchanging purpose very gradually revealed, and extending in its ultimate operation to all creation. It has been well said that the Epistle to the Ephesians is required to give completeness to the argument of Rom. xv. Though we do not find here the controversial reasoning of the earlier Epistle, we have some of those characteristic passages in which the {181} writer, carried away by emotion, leaves statement for prayer or praise (cf. Rom. xi. 33 and Eph. iii. 20). We have, indeed, in this Epistle evidence which points to a date later than that of some of his Epistles. We miss the expectation of Christ's immediate coming; the Gentiles are now quite secure in the Church; there is proof of the growth of Christian hymns (v. 14, 19). But the names of the ministers of the Church seem very primitive, the words "presbyter" and episkopos not being mentioned. And words such as "worlds," "fulness," "generations," which were used in a special sense by the Gnostics of the 2nd century, are here used in an earlier and less technical meaning.
It has been argued that Ephesians is a forged imitation of Colossians, because about half of its verses have parallels in Colossians. This argument has broken down, since it has been shown that it is equally easy to prove that Colossians is based upon Ephesians. And there is nothing strange in the idea that St. Paul wrote two similar letters at the same time to Churches in similar difficulties. The two Epistles resemble one another just as two letters written by one man to two different friends during the same week. The phrase "holy apostles" (iii. 5) is also said to be a formula which St. Paul would not have employed. But the word "holy" is used in his writings almost in the sense of "Christian;" it signifies consecration rather than personal perfection. There would, therefore, be no vanity in the apostle applying such a title to himself. The attempt to make the style furnish an argument against the genuineness of the Epistle has also failed. There are thirty-two words used only in this Epistle, but there are also eighteen which are found in Pauline Epistles and not elsewhere in the New Testament. The assumption of some sceptical writers that an apostle must have been too unintelligent to enrich his vocabulary, scarcely deserves serious examination. No one would think of applying the same rule to a Greek classical writer, and if he attempted to do so, he would find that Xenophon varies his language as much as St. Paul.
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