Paul and The Pauline Letters: Ephesians

One of the values of the ICC volume is Best s subtle and wise handling of the evidence and his care to leave issues in the hands of the reader. One gains the impression of sitting in Professor Best s study with him as he ponders each side of an issue, along with the various interpretive options, before then leaving the decision between interpretations to his conversation partner. For scholarly readership, this is supremely helpful, and the more one uses the ICC volume the more one comes to appreciate its subtlety. Best s ICC volume is a model of historical-critical scholarship and a great contribution to that series.

This new volume in the highly acclaimed New Testament Library series reveals the great theological promises of Ephesians while discussing issues of context, authorship, and style.

A classical ecumenical commentary on Ephesians. In this work Schnackenburg shows how his findings are relevant for the church today. Included are topics such as the influence of the epistle throughout history.

This book is the first English translation of both the fragments of Origen's commentary and the complete text of Jerome's commentary. Origen's fragments, where they exist, are placed in parallel columns with the text of Jerome on the same passages in Ephesians. By using texts from other works by Origen and texts from the debate of Rufinus with Jerome concerning the latter's dependence on Origen in his Commentary on Ephesians, the author is able to show numerous passages in Jerome's commentary which depend on Origen's commentary beyond those for which Greek fragments exist." "The introduction sets Jerome's Commentary on Ephesians in the context of the controversy about Origen between Jerome and Rufinus and discusses Jerome's methodology in making use of Origen's Commentary on Ephesians. The nature of the catena manuscripts containing fragments of Origen's Commentary on Ephesians is discussed. The introduction also shows the important role that St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians held in Origen's theology. The book makes a significant contribution not only to scholarship on Origen and Jerome, but also to the wider question of the interpretation of scripture in the early Christian centuries.

The Anchor Bible Commentary is the collaborative effort of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish scholars from around the world.

In this volume, Pheme Perkins mines the writings from Nag Hammadi and Qumran for illuminating parallels to Ephesians, showing how a first-century audience would have heard and responded to the various parts of the letter. Under her sure guidance, contemporary readers are led to see the rhetorical power and the theological depth of this pseudonymous letter.

Contents: Content, structure, genre, style -- Relation to Colossians and the rest of the Pauline corpus -- Authorship, pseudonymity, canon -- Setting and purposes -- The thought of Ephesians -- Prescript -- Blessing of God for his salvation in Christ -- Thanksgiving with prayer for believers' knowledge of God and their awareness of the church's significance -- God's gracious salvation as resurrection and exaltation with Christ -- The gaining of the Gentiles' privileges of participation in God's new Temple through Christ's reconciliation -- Paul as minister of the mystery to the Gentiles -- Further prayer : for the completeness of the readers' experience of God : with doxology -- The church's calling to maintenance of the unity it already possesses -- Exhortation to live according to the new humanity rather than the old -- Practical injunctions about the old and new life -- From darkness to light -- Wise and Spirit-filled living -- Household relationships : wives and husbands -- Household relationships : children and parents -- Household relationships : slaves and masters -- Concluding appeal to stand firm in the battle against spiritual powers -- Postscript

John Stott expounds Paul's theme of uniting all things in Christ by uniting his church and breaking down all that separates us from God,one ethnic group from another,husband from wife,parent from child ,master from slave.
A book for all who want to build the church into the new society God has planned it to be.

Exhaustive recent scholarship has focused on Paul's insistence that Gentiles be granted equal status with the Jews as members of the people of God. Tet-Lim Yee's study of Ephesians 2 reveals how the distinctively Jewish world view underlies this key text and he highlight's the reconciling work of Christ for both Jew and Gentile. His study represents an important contribution to the continuing reassessment of Christian and Jewish interaction during the critical period of the latter decades of the first century CE.

The primary focus of this study is the question of the extent and impact of Old Testament traditions in Ephesians. A close examination of the range of quotations, allusions and echoes found in the epistle shows that the Old Testament influence was greater and more deliberate than has hitherto been assumed. The main part of the book is a thorough exegetical study of various aspects of the question, ranging from identification of the relevant Old Testament texts to an examination of the ways in which they are appropriated and applied in the New Testament context. A number of implications emerge for our understanding of the letter's intended readership, and these are illuminating for the assessment of the epistle's relationship to the letter to the Colossians. This book is of special interest to New Testament interpreters and those interested in the history of the beginnings of Christianity.

Contents: Part One: General survey of recent literature on Ephesians -- Brief review of minor works on Ephesians -- Charles Masson -- Ernst Percy -- N. A. Dahl -- E. J. Goodspeed and C. L. Mitton -- G. Johnston and F. W. Beare -- Part Two: The Jewish liturgical tradition and the New Testament -- 1. The Jewish liturgical calendar -- The calendar in the Old Testament canon -- The calendar in the Intertestamental literature, rabbinic tradition, and the Qumran documents -- The Israelite concept of time and its expression in the liturgy -- The Christian church and th Jewish calendar -- 2. The Jewish liturgy -- The form of the Jewish Berakoth -- The reading of scripture and sermon -- The Beth midrash prayers and the Qumran Hodayoth -- Pentecost in worship and tradition -- 3. The Jewish liturgy and the New Testament -- New Testament Berakoth -- Scripture in New Testament worship -- Part Three: Ephesians Baptism and Pentecost -- 1. Ephesians and the Jewish traditions of worship -- The form and language of Ephesians -- The exaltation and sovereignty of Christ; the Spirit -- The church and its unity -- Ephesians the Jewish Pentecost -- Psalm 29 -- Exodus 19-20 -- Pentecost and marriage -- 2. Ephesians and baptism -- Direct references to baptism -- Indirect references to baptism -- The eschatology of Ephesians -- 3. The "liturgy" becomes a letter

In this detailed exegesis of Ephesians 5: 21-33 Dr Sampley not only elucidates the meaning of this difficult and historically important passage, but he also discusses and describes the background and sources of the Epistle. In particular he traces the history of the traditions incorporated in it and demonstrates convincingly that the writer of Ephesians drew heavily on certain passages in Genesis and Leviticus. Ephesians can be seen as a mosaic of traditions ingeniously arranged and employed to express the new message of the early church. This book should be of interest to all Old and New Testament scholars.

Originally published under title: A translator's handbook on Paul's letter to the Ephesians, c1982.

This study examines the topos of peace in Ephesians by comparison with Colossians, Dio Chrysostom's Orations, and the Confucian Four Books; and shows that Ephesians can be read as a politico-religious letter "concerning peace" within the church.