The Letter to the Ephesians

The Mystery and Life of the Church

The Letters to the Philippians, Philemon, and the Colossians, along with Ephesians, form the group known as the “Captivity Letters.” Philippians undoubtedly goes back to an earlier period. The other three make up a well-defined group in the Pauline epistolary. But are these Letters really Paul’s? The style is elevated and almost liturgical. Grandiose themes are treated in a sustained way; it is certainly not easy to recognize in them the pen that wrote, for example, the Letters to the Corinthians and the Letter to the Romans. Some therefore prefer to attribute these Letters to a Pauline school that operated after the death of Paul and was influenced by new ideas coming especially from Essene Judaism. According to others, a secretary of Paul drafted the text in a rather free way, in accordance with a fixed image of the Apostle.

It is possible to go even further: at that time it was not regarded as a forgery to publish, under the name of a famous personage, a text written by someone else in order to promote the work and thought of the former. But these are only hypotheses. How is it possible to prove that Paul did not pass through very different periods in his life? And why cannot the Letter to the Ephesians have been a work of his maturity?

The Letters to the Colossians and the Ephesians have more than one trait in common; we might even say that the latter borrows entire verses from the former. Colossians is more lively and direct; it intervenes at a moment of crisis in a Church. Ephesians takes up the same ideas and perhaps even the same text as the subject of a more serene and elevated contemplation. This is all the more true since it is very doubtful that the Letter is addressed to a particular Church, that of Ephesus. Paul had stayed for about three years in that very large metropolis, and, while there, had attended to the problems of the Corinthians; that was an important period for his work and his thinking (see Acts 19–20). The addressees of the present Letter seem, however, to be anonymous. This great dogmatic reflection is not linked to any concrete situation and involves no personal connections. It may be said that the writer does not know his correspondents. Furthermore, the mention of “Ephesus” is lacking in some very early manuscripts.

We are led, then, to think that what we have is rather a circular Letter intended for the Churches of the region. Some scholars even think that our Letter to the Ephesians may be the Letter to the Laodiceans mentioned in Col 4:16.

During all the vicissitudes of Paul’s mission to the Gentiles, a singular idea has been germinating in his mind: Christ is the sole principle of salvation—and it is this that constitutes his Gospel!

When he is imprisoned at Jerusalem and then placed in house arrest at Rome from 61 to 63, the Apostle has the time to deepen his understanding of the Christ event, for the crisis that had flared up among the Colossians has been doused. Thus, at fifty-seven years of age, he sets forth in the Letter to the Ephesians the mature fruit of his thought and his life. It is a lengthy theological meditation, a great vision of Christianity.

Contemplating God’s entire plan for the salvation of the human race, Paul fixes his gaze on Christ the Lord established in heaven: this is the key to the Letter. Although he is seated at the right hand of his Father, Christ has not distanced himself from the world and human beings. His sovereignty spans all creation. He enables the community of the saved, his Church, to live and grow. Through and in the Church he pours out his grace and love to the world. Through and in her, the risen Christ gathers human beings together in peace and unity, eliminating all discrimination of race and religious origin. The call of Gentiles to salvation and reconciliation with Jesus in the heart of the new Christian communities was the most beautiful testimony of the universal action of Christ.

The very facts of the life of the Church manifest the unfathomable depths of the riches of the mystery of Christ and the unheard-of newness of God’s saving love. Beneath this dynamism, a new world appears—the Church is the first cell of the humanity of the Spirit. Paul contemplates her in the dimensions of the universe. He also describes her with the aid of splendid images: the Church is God’s spouse (Eph 5:22-33), body (Eph 1:23; 4:16), and building (Eph 2:19-22). He thus sets forth the intimate as well as the organic bonds by which Christ unites believers in a community with her and leads them to their expansion.

The Letter to the Ephesians is the Letter about the Church and her mystery; Vatican Council II in its treatment of the Church drew extensively upon it. In section III of the Letter, the author gives the baptized a number of more concrete directives. Concern for unity, charity, and progress in the community is the first requirement of the new life that has been received in Baptism. In this part, there are well-known passages on the organization of the Church and on Christian marriage. The passage on this last-named subject is included among recommendations for personal conduct and family morality. It is also the occasion for a final thought about the Church, described as the spouse of Christ.

This splendid document does not possess the direct and spontaneous qualities of a letter. Its slow and solemn style stems from the majesty of the Liturgy and the fervor of contemplation. It expresses the believer’s awe concerning the grace of God given in Christ and manifested in the liturgical and communitarian life of the Church as well as in the development of her mission among the Gentiles.

The Letter to the Ephesians may be divided as follows:

I: Introduction (1:1-2)

II: The Risen Christ, Lord and Savior of the Whole Human Race (1:3—3:21)

III: New Life in the Church (4:1—6:20)

IV: Conclusion (6:21-24)