Ephesians, epistle to

L Substance and purpose, as gathered (a) From internal evidence. (6) From a comparison with Colossiana. tt. Authorship and Date, aa gather^ from (a) Internal evidence. (6) Externa] tradition. IIL Destination. It. Place of Composition. v. Doctrinal Importance, vi Literature. i. Substance and Purpo.se.

— The questions of the authorship, date, and destination of this Epistle have been, and are still, so much disputed that it will be well to deal first with the subject-matter and the purpose which reveals itself on a close examination of that. The Ep. might be summed up in the words of the Angelic song (Lk 2") — ddfa iv u^plffTots Get^ Kal iiri yTJr fifyqi'Tj iv dvdfujnroLS evooKias.

Or, again, it might be described as an expression of thanksgiving that the Lord's prayer for His Church as embodied in Jn 17 was in process of ful- filment.

For the writer's tone is eucharistic and his main theme is unity : he does not argue, he makes dogmatic statements ; he blesses God for the great truths revealed in the Gospel ; and calls ui)on his readers to rise to the high dignity of their calling ; and, as he does so, there emerges a picture of the Church as the body predestined before the ages to unite Jew and Gentile together, which through ages yet to come has to exhibit before the universe the fulness of the Divine life, living the life of God, imitating God's character, wearing (Jod's panoply, lighting God's battles, forgiving as God forgives, educating as God educates ; ana all this that it may fulfil the wider work whereby Christ is to be the centre of the universe.

Two dangers seem to threaten it when the writer writes, — the danger lest it should slip back into the lower moral standard of the surrounding heathendom, and the danger of a want of unity between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. To meet these, the writer presents the ideal of a body predestined before all ages and to last to all ages, whose aim it is to make men holy and without blemish, and to unite all mankind in peace and love.

A fuller analj-sia will l>ear out these oatliDM, 1-3 Doctrinal. 11.2 greeting. (o) 1H<. ThankBgivlng to God for the blesrings given to the whole Chr. Church. Tlieae blessings are represented as corre- ■ponding in spiritual form to the material blessings granted to ♦ We reg»rd the Beian and Syr. reading as founded on a good tradition (cf. 2 Ti «H; Ramsay, Church in Ram. Emp. E. 164) : while Butii uid others consider it to originate from SL uke himself.

the Jewish nation, especially as summed up in the year ol .Uibilee, and they are described in what may be called a hymo of three stanzas, ending with the same refrain ; the three stanzas expressing the work of Father, Son, and Uoly Spirit. For these blessirgs were (1) predestined by the Father, who chose us to be sons, holy and without blemish, before the foundation of the world, for Ote praite <tf the glory of Bit grac (I-').

(2) Communicated in Christ at the right moment, conveymg redemption, forgiveness, knowledge of God's universal purpose for all creation, and inheritance among the saints — to the praiM of Uis glory (lo-H). (3) Sealed first to the Jews (/«(), then to the Gentiles {xaU itfutt), ijy the Holy Spirit, as an earnest of the complete re- demption which lies in the future— -/or the praise of Uis glory (112.13). (6) 115-II>.

Thanksgiving to God for the spiritual state of the readers, and a prayer to the Father of this ^lory that tliey may have a yet fuller knowledge of their privileges and of ths power of God. (c) 120- .>2i. A dogmatic statement of this power of God, which has shown itself in a threefold way. (1) As exerted upon Christ Himself, granting Him Resurrection from death (^). Ascension to God's right hand (^). Supremacy over the whole universe and Headship over the Church (22. 23).

(2) As exerted upon individuals, whether Gentile (2>. •) Of Jew (23), granting them a similar threefold gift, viz. Resurrec- tion from spiritual death (2^). Ascension mth Christ to a spiritual sphere above the world (2J). The power to do good works and manifest God's grace through the coming ages (2*>-10). (3) As exerted upon the whole of Humanity.

The Gentiles who formerly were alienated from God have been brought nigh by the Cross ; so that both Gentile and Jew have peace with' God and peace with each other : they form one city, one family, one temple, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets, and the Gentiles are now being built into that (211-2'i). (rf) 3'1». Personal relations iMtween the writer and his retiders.

The writer, who emphasizes his authority to preach this great truth of God's choice of a universal Church intended to e.

\liibit his richly-variegat^d wisdom to the universe (3112), begs his readers not to be faint-hearted owing to his imprisonment (31^), and once more prays for them to the Father, that they may have spiritual strength so that Christ may dwell in them in love and knowledge to understand the greatness of their privileges, so that the fulness of the Divine liie may tie exhibited tlirough them (3'-n»). (e) 3»-2l. This section of the Ep.

ends with a doxology, emphasizing the power of God manifested in man, ond the eternal duty of praise to Him both in heaven and OD earth. 4-<i Hortatory. A. An appeal to the whole Church (1) To live a life worthy of the members of a Society whose essential characteristic is unity (4ll«). (This is hosed on l'*- " 211-22 ; cf. also 4«-52.)

An appeal for the moral qualities which preserve unity (41') is followed by a fuller description of the unity, as one of both form and spirit, and resting upon the unity of God (4*-6) ; and a recognition of the variety of gifts, especially the ministrj', given to the Church by the Risen Christ, the Ixird of the whole universe, in order to produce unity and spiritual perfection and steadfastness in truth ; so that the body may ever grow into closer union with its Head (4"-i'0.

(2) To live a life different from the old evil Gentile life (41' -■'). (This is based on 1" » 2110, cf. 63-21 .^ A description of the old Gentile life as one of aimlessness, ignorance, impurity (4i'-li') is contrasted with A description of" the Christian life as implying renewal of intellect, ntrhteousness, and holiness in confonnity with God's standard (4»24). (3) To cultivate certain particular virtues and avoid porticulor vices (425-521).

The choice of these rises out of the two pre- ceding paragraphs ; they are either such virtues as make for unity and such vices as destrov it (so mainly 42-^-62, cf. the motives appealed to in 25- 2^- 28. 29. 82), or such virtues as form the antithesis to the old Gentile life, either on the side of morality or of knowledge (so mainly 622 ; cf. the motives in 4> 63 ««*« These virtues are— 1. Truthfnlnees : based upon our dose uoloa with each other (425). 2.

A right use of anger : based upon the harm which the devil may do (4-'-). 8. Honest toll : based on the duty of helping others (f\ 4. Pure conversation : based on the duty of helping thoee who hear (42a), and the danger of grieving the indwelling Spirit (42s). 6. Gentleness and forgiveness : based on God's forgiveness o< us (431 32). «. Love : based on Christ's love and self-sacriflce (61. •). 7.

Avoidance of all impurity and covetousnees as unworthy of our consecration (63), and of all foolish Jesting and talk, as ex- cluding from the kingdom of Christ and of God (ft-K), as sure to incur God's wrath (6^, as Inconsistent with the Christian life, which is one of light (68-14). ^^ 8. Wise use of opportunities : based upon th arU « tba liin (5U.i«>. EPHESIAN8, EPISTLE TO EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO 715 9. An Intelligent understanding of Ood's will (S^O- 10.

Temper&nce in wine — perhaps especially at the Love-feastA 11. PuloeM of spiritual joy and thankful praise of Qod — perhaps especially at the meetings for common worship (S't, '). This leads back through the thoujfht of the common worship of the Church to the ideal of umty and subjection, and ao fomia a transition to B. &23.^. An ajipeal to various classes in the Church. H'lr" exhort^-'l to sutmiission to their husbands (5.

^) Because of the relation of man to woman (5'^), And the analog}' of the Church's submission to Christ (59). HwsitaniU exhorted to love their wives (d^) Because of the analogy of Christ's love for Hifl Church (55-27 And the closeness of the union between man and wife (628. »). Children exnorted to obey their parents Because of the natural sense of right (0^^ And God's commandment and promise (6^^.

Parents exhorted to train their children patiently Because of the analogy of God's traininjf of His sons (6^ Slates exhorted to loyal obedience to their mosters (6^0 Because of the impartiality of God's judgment (6^). Matters to avoid threatening Because of the thought of their own Master In heaven (69). {N.

B, — This is no accidental digression, nor is it mert-ly an attempt to lay down a new decalogue or moral code for Gentile Christians (Ewald), which should draw them nearer to the Jewish Christians by removing one of the great stumhling- blocks (Ac 1&-^) ; but tlie writer takes a Christian household with aU it« members, and treats it as a type of the Church, in which the duties of subjection, love, obedience, forbearance, which are needled for the unity of the Church, may be first laarned. Cf.

6»*. »5-w 61- »• ?• », 1 Ti 8'. The thought of Sis r£r> wmr^m is the link between the two. C. Addressed to the whole Church. An exhortation to be true soldiers, to put on the full armour of God, that they may realize Ujs strength and fight His battles (610. ii, cf. lis -Ifi). Description of the seriousness of the conflict (613). Description of the armour, as complete (i^), as consisting of truth an<i righteou.sness (cf. 4^), of peace (cf. 21.''), and faith (of. 113), 01 Ood's saving grace (cf.

1'^ 2), of God's word of truth (cf. 421 sai), of jjrayer and watchfulness (8i»-i«). The choice of the weapons is partly motived by the descrijition of J"'s armour in Is.iiah (.'i9, etc.), partly by the virtues already emphasized in this Kpistle, partly perhaps by the armour of the soldier to whom the writer is chained ('.^). A request for their prayer for himself (Gil. 20). An (I'-coimt of the purpose of the mission of Tychicns (fi^>.'

3) Final snlntntion, with prsyer for peace, love, and faith, to those who have love for the Lord (B'^^-^*). The Ep. is thus marked by extraordinary unity )f structure and interlacing of para^jrajili witli (laragraph, and the analysis shows that there is no sense of controversy on the surface of it ; 2" liints at the controversial nicknames of tlie Jewish and Gentile stru^jgle (ol \ey6iicyoi anpo^varia iiirb ttj^ \fyofLii>ris TTtfiiTo/xij!)

; 4" and perliajis 4'''i point to the danger of false teaching, but the allusions are vague. The purpose is to emphasize the moral and K|>iritual fulness of the Chris-tian life (cf. irXripovf and wXjipuixa, li''-2»3i»4io. iS5i«)_ a,„l ^i,„ closeness of the union which binds Christiana to (jlirist and to each other: cf, ip Kvplip or iy Xpiartp (Kjih .'iU times, Col 11) ; imrrfi (4'" here only) ; dydwri an<l dYajraf (19 times in EjjIi as comp.

-ircd with 16 in Ito and 1 Co); tlpi/ivri (8 times Eidi, 11 Ro, in no other Ep. oftener than 3) ; and the many compounds of <ri'/i', eiiipliasizing the ' with -riess of Christians with Chri.

st cvyKaBl^tiv (2" only), aviw<rwoiiXv (2' and Col "2"), awiytlpeiv (2", Col 2'* 3') ; or with each other, avyKX-nponoiiot (3\ Ro 7'), <ri/M|8i^df«c (4'«, Col 2^- ■»), ctumm^toxos (3" 5' only), 9vnTo\lrr)s (2" only), avvappLoKoyttv (2'-" 4" only), <riySeapu>t (4', Col 2'" 3"), avvoiKoSoixuv (2^'' only), aviraup.0% (3" only). The purnose of all this, too, lies beyond itself. The Churcn must he one, ln'cau.

so a great conllict lies before it ; the s]iii itual forces of evil are gulhering, and it must be on its giiaril. A conipiirisDii with (Jolossians will partly con- firm, partly supplement this result. Wlioever may be the author of lliis Kp., it is clear that there is a clii>e relation between it and that. The salulations are almost identical : the structure of the Epistles is the same ; the Hiihjt'cts are mainly the same, the n(!

cd of knowled;;e is empliasi>;eil, and the relation of Christ to the universe and to the ('hiiich ; the same moral virtues are inculcated ; the laws of familj' life are laid down in each ; the same phrases and words recur ; they are both conveyed by Tychicus (cf. Iloltzmann, Einleitung'' p. 291, foi exact details).

But there are important tliiferences ; the personal element is strongly marked in Col (2i-< 411) ") and almost absent here ; the controversial tone (Col 2'''^) is dropped ; the stress there was on Christ's relation to the universe, here on His relation to the Church ; there Christ was spoken of as the irXiipwpa of God, here the Church as the 7r\);pw/io of Christ and of God. Again, there are new points emphasized in this Ep.

; the sense of the continuity of the Church throughout the agea (Eph p-»), the work of the Holy Spirit (12 times in Eph, 1 in Col), the unity of the Church (2"-"" 4"'), the analogy between family life and the Church (5''-G''), the simUe of the (Christian armour (6'"""), are all additions in this Ep., or at best are expansions of very slight references there. The points of similarity justify us in finding below the surface allusions to the Col. controversy.

That arose from teaching which either grew simjily out of Jewish soil, or perhaps was influenced by extraneous Oriental speculation (cf. Lightfoot, Colussians: 'The Colossian Heresy'; and Hort, Judaistic Christianity, pp. 116-129), laying great stress on a system of elaborate rules, termed a philosophy, and separating God from the material world by the introduction of the worship of angels. In answer to this the Ep.

to the Col emphasized the cosmic work of Christ, and the need of a truer and higher wisdom, and of faith as the means of approach to God. This controversy is now in the background ; but it is justifiable to (ill out the vague allusions in such jiiissiiges as I'-i"-*' 2"" 3'"' 18. IS 41U. 14. 21 gia^ by the more detailed parallels in Col (cf. esp. Findlay in Expositors Bible). On the other hand, the points of dissimilarity which cover the larger part of the Ep.

sliow that the stress of that controversy is absent here, and that other motives are juominent. The purpose, then, is primnrHy to stir up the readers to a higher activity and a closer unity by reminding them of the ideal of the Church in God s eteru.al iiur[)0ses ; sccdiularily, to guard them against false teaching that was current at the time, tending to take a low view of the created world. ii. AUTHOR.SHIP AND Dati:.— Three imssihle alternatives are ojien to us : either the author is .St.

Haul, or some friend writing for him and with his knowledge, or some later writer assuming after .St. Paul's death that he is justilied in writing in his name. The second of these altenuitives may be put a.side ; it is only another form of the liist, an the Eji. would pniclically be St. I'aul's and have all his authority. Now, as the third alternative is possible, we must eliminate at hrst from the dis- cussion all that speaks of the e.\«ct situation in St.

I'aul's life; for on that alternative, that will be part of an imngimiry situation. Itut, apart from this, we have a few indications of date and writer. Diite. — The terminus n qyo is A.I). "iS or ."iO, llie earliest date at which St. I'aul could he described as having sull'ereil a lung imprisonment (3''" 4') as the champion of the Cciitilcs. The tcnnuius ad f/ift'm is more doubtful.

The Church oiganizatioii implied is very sliglit ; there is a ministry, both of apostles and prophi'ts for the first foimdation of Churches (2* 3" 4"), anil of evangelists, shepherds and teachers for the hiiiMIng up of diurches once founded (4"). Tliere is stress laid on itaptism, pcrliiips an allusion to the pro- fession at liaptisni of f.'iith in (iod, the l.onl, and 716 EPUESIANS, EPISTLE TO EPHESIA^S, EPISTLE TO (cf. 5'«-" with 1 Co 10". Tert. Apul. 39).

But this evidence is indeterminate ; it might all be illustrated from 1 Co (6" 12^-'- ^s 14-«) ; wliile the absence of mention of iirLuKOTroi, Trpfc!,ivTepot, and oiaKovm is af;ainst a late date. The aksence of the freer xapLaiWiTa of 1 Co 12 is no objection, as they were esp. characteri.stic of the Corinthian Church, and as, even there, St. Paul discouraged them in comparison with the more fixed ministry. The controversies referred to are again undecis- ive.

The attempt to see allusions to a developed 2nd cent. Gnosticism are now abandoned, for its technical words aiii^'es, TrXripufia, yeveal are clearly used here in a less technical sense ; again, possible allusions to a false Docetism in 4" 5"' are too uncer- tain to build upon. On the doctrinal side there is notliing whicli may not be e.xiilained as falling within the 1st century. So ^^ith the struggle of parties within the Church.

There is still a certain friction between the Jewish and Gentile Christians, and the danger is that the Gentiles may despise the Jewish Christians; they need reminding that they have been brought into a commonwealth « liich e.\isted before (1'^ 2"). Such a condition would have been possible even in the 2nd cent. (cf. Justin Martyr, Tri/pho, ch. 47) ; but it would also have been possible at any date after St. Paul's missionary work (cf.

Ro 11""^), and the language used seems to imply that the readers belonged to the first generation of converts, who had them- selves come over from paganism to Christianity Again, tlie absence of any mention of the de- struction of Jems, possibly points to a date earlier than A.D.

70, and the absence of any clear allusion to any danger of persecution by the state (though that may be included in the dangers against which the Christian has to arm himself, 6") is, when compared with 1 P, a strong indication of a date before A.D. 70 if St. Peter refers to the Neronian, before A.D. 80 if to the Flavian persecution. On internal grounds, therefore, A.D. 70 forms the most probable limit, though a date even in the 2nd cent, would be conceivable.

The use of the letter in other Christian literature supports an early date. Bv A.D. 150 it was known widely by Catholics and heretics, and treated by both as Scripture ; for it was included in the Lat. and Syr. versions ; its destination was discussed by Marcion (see below) ; it was used by the Ophites, Valentinians, and Basilideans, prob. by Basilides and Valentinus themselves, perhaps even com- mented upon by them (Westcott, Canon, 291, 295).

It was included with the title ' to the Laodiceans' in Marcion's Canon (c. 140) : a canon the existence of which implies a Church Canon, to which it was placed in opposition (Sanday, BL p. 19). In the years 95-150 we have probable reminiscences of its lan- guage in Clement, cf. xxxvi. with Eph 1", xxxviii., <roi^^tT0fV oOv 6\ov t6 ffw/xa iv Xpurrt^ 'Irjaov Kal vtto- Tacaio6ia iKaaroi Tip T\-^<riov aOrov, with 5^"^, xlvi. with 4-', Ixiv. with 1*(?) ; in Ignatius, ad Epkes. i. 1 with Eph 1' ff.

; ix. and xv. with Eph2''' ; xii. with 3*, riai^Xov avtiti^trrax . . 8s ^v irdffjj ivierbX-Q /^mjfio- reiei v^iuy, possilily a direct reference to the letter (Smith, DR'p. 952 n; but see Lightfoot, arffoc.and Hart, Ro and Eph, p. 113) ; ad Pulijc. v. with 5". In The Two Ways — the document which underlies the Didachd (iv. 10)and Ep. Barnabas (xix.) there seems a reminiscence of Epn 6". In Polycarp, ad Phil. ch. i. may be compared with Eph 2»- »■ », and xii. with Eph 4^. In Hennas, cf. Mand.

iii. 4 and x. 2-5 with 4*, and v. and xii. 6 with 4- : Similitude ix. 13 with 4-'- '. Moreover, in nearly all these sub-apo.st. writings there is an advance in thonglit or church life.

The stress on episcopacy, the development of Docetism, the elaboration of the metaphor of the Church as a temple in the Ignatian letters ; the stress on tlie threefold ministry and the more marked use of liturgical language in Clement of Rome ; above all, the fuller working out into detail of the many similes in this Ep. in the Sheplicrd of Herma.s, all seem to imply a later date. In this latter treatise, the phrase ' giving place to the devil' is elaborately drawn out in Mand. v. and xii. 5.

The conception of the Church as existing through all ages i- expanded in Vis. ii. 4 ; of the Church as a briile witliout spot or wrinkle in Vis. iii. 10-13 ; as a building in Vis. iii. 2, Sim. ix. 9 ; as resting upon the apostles as foundation in Sim. ix. 15. In each case the simile is at a later stage of development. ' It is all but certain on this eWdence that the Epistle was in existence by A.D.

95, quite certain that it was in existence by about 15 years later, or conceivably a little more' (Hort, p. 118). But there is possibly other evidence to be drawn from NT. The points of comparison with the Synoptic Gospels (e.g. Lk 21» with Eph 6'», Mk 4" with Eph 3*, Mk 12'» with Eph 2-'", Mt 16>» with Eph 2-"" 4"), or with the Acts (2^ with Eph 2", 2^ with Eph i\ 10^ with Eph 2"), do not prove literary dependence nor go beyond parallels found in the earlier Epistles. [For details cf.

Holtzmann, Kritik, pp. 248-255, but his analogies are often fanciful. For possible allusions to Agrapha of our Lord in 2'*- " 3" 456.37.86 gf Resch, Agrapha, p. 109.] There are striking similarities between the Ep. and the Fourth Gospel ; e.g. the stress on x«P"> t''^ "^^ of Tr\-/ipufm, the contrast between light and darkness, the continuity of the work of the Logos, the pre- destination of the disciples, the activities of tlie Holy Spirit, the purifying power of baptism and of the word.

The most striking similarity in thouglit is with Jn 17, where almost every verse otters a parallel to this Ep. ; e.g.

' the stress on God's fatlierhood, ' the power over all flesh, • life identified with knowledge, • the pre-existent glory of Christ, • the revelation to a few, '" Christ florified in His disciples, " the prayer for unity ased on God's unity, " Christ's joy fulfilled in His disciples, '♦ the antagonism of the world, " the protection from the evil one, " sanctification by truth, ^ the unity of Christians as a means of pro- moting Christ's work, ^ God's love for Christians like His love for Christ, " God's love for Christ before the foundation of the world.

So again between the Ep. and the Apoc. [e.g. the city with foundations, which are the twelve apostles (21'''), the Church as a bride (21'), the prominence of the prophets (10' 11" 18")]: even more frequent are the points of contact with 1 P; e.g. 1 P 1» with Eph 1»-", 1" with Eph 3", 2 with Eph 2, 2'«-3' with Eph 5='-6», 3" with Eph 4», 3^ with Eph l. It is doubtful whether in any case the amount of similarity is sufficient to preve literary depend- ence. The similarity with St.

John is one mainly of thought. It is possible that the language of St. lolm was influenced by this Ep., but it is more Erobable that this Ep. was \vritten by one who ad heard of that great prayer of our Lord. May not St. Paul have heard it direct from St. John's lips, pos.sibly at Jerus., when they met to di.scuss the terms of unity between Jew and Gentile in the one Church ; or possibly at Rome, if, as Renan suggests, St. John had been there, or even was there when St. Paul was writing ?

In the ca.se of 1 Peter there is a stronger probability of literary dependence ; if so, and if we assume the priority of 1 Peter (but see Weiss, Introd. i. p. 355), we should have indication that our Ep. was in existence before A.D. 70 or 80 — at leaat it proves that the tone of thought and phraseology is such as was possible and natural before that date. Author.

— The author must have been a Jewish Christian, proud of his Jewish privilege, steeped EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO 717 in OT symbolism (1'" 6'"). Fiuther, he must have been an ori^nal tliinker, able to trace out a philosoiiliy of history througli the a^'es, able to move in tlie mystical sphere of heavenly places, and yet able to pass thence into the lower region of simple daily duties and of family life.

Lastly, he was one who cared that his writing should appear under the name and with all the authority of St. Paul. There is, then, ajmrnd facie proba- bility that it was St. Paul himself ; and a detailed examination will bear this out. (o) Toe Btructure of the Ep. a clearly Pauline. The com- mencenient with words ot thanksgiving (ct. Ro l», 1 Co 1^, 2 Co l*); the ^reat statement ot doctrine as the basis for moral exhortation (ct. llo l'»-8) ; the moral exhortation, introduced by •!. (cf.

Ro 121, Gal 5'), and passing from the general to the particular (ct. Ro 12-16) ; the apparent digression on family Ute which really proves to be an important illustration of the whole subject (ct. 1 Ck> 7>?« 91-1013, Bo 9-llX »U find parallels in ist. I'auL ((<) The main thought often show an advance on the earlier Epp., but it is an atham-e on a line alre-idy marked out. Tlius the contmtiitv of the Christian Church with the Jewish, as a part ol Ood'8 itenial plan (l^l-).

finds parallels in Ro 9-11. 162^2;, Old 41" ; the conception of Christ as the original source of creation ami the restorer ot its unity (11<>). in 1 Co 86, 2 Co S18- 1», Ro 8l2S ; the conception of the Church as the body ot Christ, which receives His life and shows it forth to the universe, is an exi>aiision of the genus in 1 Co 49 12'-'' ; the unity of the Church IS prcsuppo.'icd in the whole argumont of 1 Co, where 6t.

Paul is anxious to keep the customs and doctrines of the Corinthian Church in a line %vith those ot all the Churches of the Sainu (1 Co 1^ 41" 71' 111" IS*") — even tlie use of i»«A.

i»^;« for the Church universal is probable in 1 Co 12 lO-nm 122J ; the stress laid on the Holy Spirit as the inspirerot the Church's life is analogous to 1 Co 12 ; the identification ot the events of Christ's death and resurrection with those ot the life of each Christian (21 i"), to Ro 8 and 1 O 15 ; the residence of sin in the «/!

£ (2'), and its eticct on intellect as well as will, to Ro 7 ; the univeraal sinfulness ol Jew and Gentile alike as the basis it a universal redemption (21-4) is a summary ol Ro 118-2^', of. Gal 211^21 ; the destruction ol the barrier between Jew and Gentile (2"^ is St. Paul's most favourite doctrine. But it is urged that here the parts are changed: elsewhere Bt.

Paul is the champion of the (Sentile a^inst Jewish narrow- ness ; here he reniintis Gentiles of the privileges of the Jews, and appears as the champion ol Jewish Christians against Gentile exclusiveness. This is true, but the balance between the preponderance of Jew and Gentile might differ in each CJhurch, or even at different moments in the history ol one Church ; and St. Paul was bent always, not on viphoUliiig one side, but on securing the rights of both within the Church.

Further, this attitude on his part towards the Gentile Christians finds an emct parallel in Ro 111" 2t. Indeed the strongest argument lor the Pauline authorship lies in the undesigned coincidences tietwecn Eph and the Ep. to the Romans.

Both are of the nature ol a general treatise ; both are an attempt to show that Jew and Gentile are united by the work ol Christ ; both base this on the sinlulneas ol Jew and Gentile alike ; both emphasize the jrivileges ol the Jews ; both build up a new morality, centring .

n love and made possible by the gilt ol the Spirit ; both bint at the extension ol Christ's work beyond man to the whole creation ; both emphasize the eternal plan ol God, hidtlen lor ages, hinted at in prophetic writings and revealed at the due moment ; both express the writer's amazement at the depths ol the wisdom ol Owl, and in each case the style rises into the beautv and cadence ol a poem (Ro S31-*9).

There are two points indeed which present a rather striking difference from the earlier Epistles. The thought ol the quick return ol the Ixird is atieent, and in ito steail we have a vista ol genemtinns vet to <»me. through which the Church Is to glorify God (r;21).

But it is conceivable that these generations arc thought of by the writer as following the Lord's return ; it is conceivable, In accord with this, that the struggle which lies tielore the Church ((1'2) is that which Is to precede thecnnung of the l»nl(cl. 2Th 2*12); and further, it is clear that .St. Paul, when he wrote the Ep. to the Romans, hail contemplaU'd the possibility of some long period of Church hUtory before the Lord's coining (Ro 112S).

Once more, the high conception ol lamily life Is at first sight Inconsistent with the preference for celiha«\v and discourage- ment of marriage in 1 Co 7. But that wiis written in the Srenence of a pressing necessity : even there St. Paul recognizes lat lioth the celibate and the married have a gift from Cod; »nd u time went on and the I.«rd did not return, it became neces-sart to build up a tnie conception of marriage in the face ol heathen laxity. It is as likely that St.

Paul should organize lainilv life as thiit he should organize church order, and tliis he bad (lone Irom the first. (c) The style Is again admittedly Pauline up to a pomt "There are sonie twenty words peculiar to St. Paul in his earlier Epp. ; others common to Eph with the Poatoral Ejip. (cl. Iloltzniann, Kritik, p. '2->7) : there Is the love of iianwloxical antithesis (cl. 61.%. »)) ; the plav upon cognate wortis (4'-10 61- 1*) ; the same tree paraphrasing ol ()T (is^'l.

cl Ro 1(1""); the same unaiknow. Cige<l Oilaputlon ol OT language (122 2liH7 4*i. » 62 flU 01418, cf. 1 (jo 310-1', 2 Co 3i»i"). On the other hand the sentences are K less broken, rather more elal>orate and complicated by paren theses ; • but this apjtlies miiinly to the earlier part ol the Kp. where we have great statements of doctrine rather than cuii troversial arguments, so that it may be adequately explaiiii.l as due to the quieter tone in which St. Paul was writin- So.

too, of verbal differences: there is a large number of «Ta; Xirsf.ux (76), but not proportionately larger than in the ollu i Epp. (for details cf. Von Soden, p. 87 ; Uoltzmann, EiiUeitvii.!. p. '2811). Some of them occur in quotations ; the majority <>t tbem rise naturally out ol the subject-matter ol the Ep. ; even where the application is different from that in the earlier Epp. , «.(/. in «'«a«^.'«,rX>;,ttx,xip«Aj,yiu.iXjo».

this, too, grows natumllv out of the change of subject ; and certainly there is no one word which St. Paul could not have u8e<l. The two that have bcin most objected to are the use ol • 8/«/3oXi>< (4'^' 6") and «' ii-yiu itrtrroXit (3'). To the first it is objected that St. Pwil elsewheic uses • <r»Taaf or • Tn^aC* : hut St. Mt, St. Lk, St. Jn (Gosp. and Apoc.), the writer of 1 Ti, and St. Paul himself as reporte.l bv St. Luke in the Acts (13i» 2618), use both • a.i^«x« and i rxTa.

¥ii ; and the stress on unity in this Ep. makes the use of Jm^rtot, ».«. the slanderer, more appropriate than r«T«.i,-. Possibly, too, the word means here ' any human slanderer ' (Zahn, Einl. 367). Again, the phra.se ' the holy apostles ' sounds like the ecclesiojitical formula of a later generation looking baiU on its canonized founders; but, aiiart from the consideratimi that the reading is a little doubtful (cf. Smith, DE- pp. 956 ami 904).

the context shows that Styiti refers to special consecrntir.ii of the apostles and prophets as recipients of the new revelation, in contrast to the sons of men (cf. Rev 2114 and Lk I'O). (d) The relation of the Ep. to that to the Col adds to the complexity of the problem. The extent of this has been brought out already, and the fuller details may be seen in Uoltzmann, Kritik der Epheser- und Kolosser-briefe, cap. ii., or in Von Soden, pp. 94, 96.

There is nothing exactly like the problem elsewhere in NT. The nearest parallels are the relation ot the Synoptic Gospels to each other, or the relation of 2 Peter and Jude : in those cases the similarity is due partly to the use ot common documents, partly to the deliberate use of the earlier writer by the later. In this case a somewhat similar theory has been propounded by Uoltzmann ; he holds that St. Poul himself wrote a short letter to the Col.

, that some latei writer elaborated this into the Ep. to the Eph, and that the same writer, or another, subsequently composed our present Ep. to the Col, based upon the two preceding letters. Such a theory rests upon the fact that in some resemblances priority seems to he on the side of Eph, in others on the side of Col ; but such an argument is very subjective and precarious ; it has not met with any acceptance, and may safely be set aside as too artiflci-al (see Smith, Dlfl pp.

959, 960, for a fuller eiamina- tion of it). The more probable theorv, then, is that of simultaneous author- ship by one writer ; and that such a similarity is not unworthy of St. Paul may be seen by comjiaring instances of similar though less marked resemblance between Ko and Gal (cf. Lighttoot, Gaialiam, Introd. cap. iii.), and between 1 Ti and Titus. (e) The indications of the personal character of the writer are naturally lew in so general an Ep.

; yet such as they are, they are quite true to the character ol St. Paul as revealed in the earlier letters. The spirit ol thankfulness bursting out into doxologies (13 321), the courteous recognition ol good in his con- verts (115), the proverfulness lor them (116 3IS. 14), the longing lor their intercession (6i»). the tonrlncss for applying great principles to the details of daily life (.

V-^"), the sense ol his own personal unworthiness (a sense which has grown stronger with advancing years, but yet was destined to grow stronger still, 38, cl. 1 Co 159, 1 Ti ji ), combined with the bold apjieal to his authority as based ui>on revelation and upon his sufferings lor the trutii (31 4I).— all these may indeed be the accidenul out- come of borrowing from the early letters, hut far more proljably are they the natural outcome of the work ol the same man.

There can, then, be little doubt that the >vrit«r is St. Paul. The alternative is a .Jewish-Christian Paulinist, steeped in St. Paul's lanfoui^'e, doctrine, and cliaiactcr, coiniidsin^ ' a mosaic out of the material of the ratiliiio Epistles' (Von Soden), (jiving a slightly wiilcr scope to his conceptions of Christ and of the Church, emphasizing the uni- versal character of the Church as a part of God's eternal jmrpo.se, 'in the spirit of the Fourth fiospel' (Uort, p. 120).

It would be a tenable view that the writer was the author of the Kotirth (Jospel, writing in the name of St. Paul, liut if our altenuitives are limited so narrowly as this. the witnes.s of the early Church may be regarded as absolutely decisive. We have seen how early the evidence is of the existence of the Ep., and evidence of existence is in this case evidence of • There are scarcely any Interrogatory sentences ; one only In Eiih, as coni|>ared with 88 in llo 1-11, and 4 in Ro 12-16.

(Sanday and lleadlam, Inlernalional Commfniari/ on Iht yfontaiis, the best discussion In English ol tie difference al style between Ro and Eph.) 718 EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO belief in the Pauline authorship. The work is not anonymous (like the Fourth Gospel or the Ep. to the Hebrews) ; it has not merely a salutation easily separable from the Ep.

; the claim to Pauline authr"-ship is knit into the very fabric of the letter, and some of the earliest reminiscences of its language are of the parts which imply the autlior- ehip. It was, then, written by St. Paul himself. iii. Destination.— The readers to whom the letter was addressed were mainly Gentiles (1" 2" 31 417 58) . i,„j jjjjg does not, any more tlian Ro 1 1 ", exclude the presence of some J ewish Christians.

Indeed, 2" seems to require the presence of Jewish Christians as forming a minority in the Church. St. Paul is laying dovra guidance to tlie Gentiles in their treatment of the Jewish Christians. Hence some commentators have treated the Ep. as a general encyclical to bU GentUe converts throughout the world.

But there are personal bonds between him and them ; lie has had recent news of their faith and love (1"); they have heard of his imprisonment and are sad at heart about it (3"), and are anxious as to the issue of it (6^') ; they seem acquainted with Tychicus (6^'- ^) ; and they are distinguished from other Christians (1" 3' 6'). There is little doubt, then, that the destination must be localized. But in 1' the words ^i" 'E(pi(r(fi are of very doubtful authority.

They are absent in the first hand of t< and B, and are marked as an interpolation in 67 ; but found in all other MSS. Further, BasU (c. Eunom. ii. 19) says that there was a tradition of their absence, and that he found them omitted in the old copies known to him. Again, the interpre- tation of Toi!

oiai as 'those who have true life,' 'those who really are,' — an interpretation which presupposes the omission of the words, — is quoted by Basil as a traditional interpretation, and is found in Origen (Cramer, Cat. ad loc), and is repeated by Victorinus Afer, Jerome, and Hilary. Further, Tertullian, in arguing against Marcion that the Ep. was addressed to the Eph., does not appeal to the salutation. It is, then, a fair inference that the words were absent from some copies in the 2nd cent.

, as it is a certainty that they were absent from many in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The title rpbs 'E(f>e(riovi gives us surer ground, and yet not quite sure. It is universally found in all MSS and versions, and all Church tradition has connected the Epistle with Ephesus. But Tertullian tells us that some heretics, and notably Marcion {adv. Marc. v. 11 and 17, cf. Epiphanius, Hcer.

42), had a different title ' ad Laodieenos ' : now this may have been a mere critical conjecture bj Marcion, based upon the obvious likeness of this Ep. with the Col, and the indication of Col 4" that there was a letter written to Laodicea at this time. If so, this at least implies the absence of iv "&<jiiaif from the copies : but it is equally probable that the alternative title is a real fact, and that the Ep. was originally sent to Laodicea.

Tradition, then, points to two Churches of Pro- consular Asia, Ephesus and Laodicea, and internal evidence is consistent with this. As long as it was regarded as addressed only to Ephesus, the lan- guage of 1" 3^ 4" and the absence of any special ref. to the circumstances of a Church in which St.

Paul had spent three years, and on which he had been on the intimate terms implied in Ac 20, was a stumbling-block ; but this difficulty entirely dis- appears on the theory that the letter was intended for several Churclies. That Ephesus was one of these Churches is prac- tically certain ; the unanimity of Church tradition in its favour is conclusive itself ; but besides this the points of similarity with the speech to the elders of Ephesus (Ac 20" TaiT(,vo<ppoaiur]i—i').

H)^' th« stress on x^P's ; v." itaui (of. 3'), v." fiovKiiv (cf. 1"), v.'-" Trtfiieirotriaaro (c£. r'j, Troi)iaiv(W (ci ■jToifiJi/as 4"), KXripoyo/dav (cf. "• ")); with the Gospel of St. John and esp. with the Prologue (see aOove), with the letter of Ignatius to the Eph. (see above) i in a less marked degree with 1 Ti (e.g.

2'"' 4'' the stress on the universality of creation and redemp- tion ; 3"" 5^' the appeal to the angels as witnessing the Christian life ; 3° the treatment of the family as a type of the Church), — all strongly confirm the tradition. It may be added that the mention of Tychicus (cf. Ac 20^, 2 Ti 41='), the ref. to the power of tlie spirits of evil (cf Ac 20"""), the stress on the unity of Baptism (cf.

Ac 20'"'), all fall in mth the sama tradition, though too indeterminate in themselve'* to prove the destination. 1 he address to Laodicea is borne out by Col 2' 4""", which A\'itness to St.

Paul's anxiety for Laodicea at this moment, and show tliat he was writing at the same time a general letter — not necessarily addressed to Laodicea only, but one which could be obtained from Laodicea (7-r;c ^k AaoSiKilas), and is quite consistent with Rev 3"'^, wliere the Church at Laodicea is rebuked for luke- warmness. Nor is there any reason why the destination should be limited to these two Churches.

Col 4" suggests that it may also have been sent to Hiera- polis, while the analogy of Rev 1-3 and 1 P 1' might lead us to infer that it was intended for all the Gentile converts of Proconsular Asia (cf. Ac 19'»). iv. Place of Composition.— St. Paul was at the time a prisoner, suffering imprisonment on behalf of the Gentiles (3' 4'), and an imprisonment lasting long enough to have caused anxiety to his converts (31s gM) Hence the place must be either Ccesarea (Ac 24") or Rome {ib. 2S**).

As between these two places this Ep. gives no guidance, save that the points of similarity with the Pastoral Epp. (cf. Salmon, Introd. cap. xx. ) indicate the later date, and the tone of imperialism (see below) suits Rome better. But owing to the great similarity with Col we may certainly use any indications of date found there ; and this is linked on by the personal allusions in it to the Ep.

to Philemon (Col 4'- " with Philem **), so that indications there too may be used ; again, the allusions to the im- prisonment in Ph 1'^' make it probable that that too was written at the same place.

Some commentators would place Ph at Cu'sarea, the other three at Rome, but more probably all are to be placed at Rome ; for the phrase iv o\if tQ TpaiTupl(fi (Ph 1'^), though applicable to Herod's priBtorium at Caesarea (Ac 23"), is equally applic- able to the praetorian soldiers or the Supremo Court at Rome ; the phrase ol iK rfi^ Kalaapot ok/as (Ph 4-^) is more applicable to Rome ; the state of feeling between Jewish and Gentile Christians as reflected in Ph l""*" corresponds well with that implied in the Ep.

to the Romans : the freedom for preaching which St. Paul enjoys, and the importance which he attaclies to it (Ph 1", Eph 6*'), are more natural at Rome : the expectation of a speedy release (Philem '") points the same way ; and, although C.T>sarea was nearer for a runaway slave from Colossa?, yet there were more frequent opportunities of communication with Rome, a greater chance of hiding, and an easier access there to St. Paul. Finally, the points of contact between all four Epp.

and the Pastoral Epp. in phraseology, in stress on organized church and family life, and in Christology, all favour the later date. We place, then, all four Epp. at Rome. Of their relative order it is again impossible to speak with certainty ; but most probably (so Lightfoot, Phil. ; Hort, Eom. and Eph. p. 102 ; but see on the other side, Ramsay, St. Paul ths EPHKSIAXS, EPISTLE TO EPHESIAXS. EPISTLE TO 719 Traveller, p. 357) the Ep. to tlie Phil, stands by itself comparatively early in the Rom.

imprison- ment ; for it oilers more points of comparison in phraseology and doctrinal discussion with tlie earlier group ; there is more discussion of the doctrine of iustilication by faith, more protest against the Judaizing Chn.stians. On the other hand, Eph Col Philem form a j^roup by tliem- selves, written comparatively late in the imprison- ment— with fewer points of contact with the earlier group, and witli more agreement with the Pastoral E[>istles. They may, then, be all placed about A.

D. 63 at Rome. By that time St. Paul had been in prison for three or four years. That imprisonment had been incurred at Jems, just at the moment when he had taken up the alms of the Gentile Churches to the Churches of Jud.Ta ; his anxiety about his reception by the brethren there (Ro 15^) had been removed ; he had been welcomed, misunderstand- ings had been smoothed over, he had shown his willingness to work with them (Ac 21""). The unity Detween Jewish and Gentile Christians was assured.

But an outburst of Jewish fanaticism, on the false charge that he had taken a Gentile Christian, an Ephesian, within the centre wall of partition in the temple precincts (cf.

Ejih 2" t6 luabroixo'), had led to his arrest ; he had been kept two years at Ciesarea, thence on his own appeal had been transferred to Rome ; on his way he had been marvellously protected from danger of sliip- ^Teck ; he had been welcomed once more by the brethren at Rome on his arrival (Ac 28'°), and since he had been in prison he had liad freedom to preach and wonderful success in preaching.

Naturally, then, one of his main thoughts was of God's overruling power, which could bring good out 01 apparent evil, and turn even imprisonment into the means of furthering His work (Ph 1", Eph S"). Further, he was now in Rome, the great centre of the enipire, whi<-h he had for many years longed to see.

He would look, with the eyes of a pro- rincial, upon the centre of the world's administra- tion ; he would see a power, small at first, confined to one Italian town, growing by steaxly growth till it launched itself forth on tlie whole world, brought all nations under its subjection, opened its franchise freely to all, and allowed them to enjoy its privileges, yet still requiring its prae- torian soldiers ready to defend its emperor or to move out against any enemies that might attack its borders ; while as ultimate source of authority stood the one man, the Emperor, the head, the ruler, the court of appeal for the oppressed, set forward more and more even as an object of worship.

At the same time St. Paul would hear more of the teaching of Seneca and of the great Stoic conception of a universal city, of whicli all men were citizens, and in which each true citizen rofle above the limitations of place and of environ- ment, and became independent, self, centred (airdp/cijs), the master and not the slave of circum- stances (cf. Lightfoot, Phil., 'St. Paul and Seneca').

Naturally, then, his thoughts would dwell upon the new brotherhood of the Church, ' the kingdom of Christ and of God ' (Eph 5*), ' the citizenship in the heavens' (Ph 1" 3", Eph 2").

That, too, had CTOwn out of a small centre, and by a longer growth, for it had begun before the foundation of the world ; that, too, had at the right moment launched itself on the world, and all divisions of race had been broken down in it ; that, too, centred in its king, who had won his triumplis and given • Von Soden, while rejecting the Pauline authorship of Eph. hesitates between Borne and Ajia Minor aa the place of iu ocmpositlon. gifts to his followers (4', cf.

2 Co 2"), who him- self was the source of peace (Eph 2"), who was the head of the body ; that, tjo, liad its enemies to conquer, and therefore needed its soldiers ever pre- pared to fight (Eph 2- 6'°-") ; but its citizenship was in heaven, its eneiriies were spiritual, the scene of battle was in the heavenly places ; its aim was wider, for it had once more to oring to a unity (ava.Ki- <pa.\a.iw(7a(rdai, ' recapitulare,' Iren. adv. Hmr. iii. 18 ; ' instaurare,' Vulg.

; ' ad initinm reciprocare, "Tertul. Monog. c. 5) the whole universe ; as it was founded on all past history, so its rule was to embrace all future time (Ejili 3^'). Dead as well as living were its subjects (4" (?)) Such thouglits might of themselves almost ac- count for tlie genesis of this Ep. ; but a new turn was given to tliem by the arrival of Epaphras from Colossje.

He brought news of the deveropinent of teaching there tendin" to degrade the dignity of Christ, to substitute tlie worship of angels, to take low views of tlie material worhf, to lay an undue stress upon knowledge as the one method of access to Christ.

At the same time he brought news of the neighbouring Churches of Proconsular Asia ; their faith was sound, their love strong ; but they were disheartened by the apostle's imprisonment, and, as in all Churches in Gentile cities, there was the danger lest the surrounding heathenism should draw tliem back, lest ' empty arguments ' {Kivoi.

X6701, Eph 5°) should lead them to treat immorality lightly and indifferently ; and, as in all mixed Churches of Jews and Gentiles, there was the danger lest racial jealousy should destroy unity. Witli the special danger at ColossiE, St. Paul dealt in the Ep. to the Col ; then he turned to the ^vider condition of the Asiatic Churches, with his thoughts perhaps mainly fixed on Ephesus, his favourite abode, the centre of Gentile Christendom in that neighbourhood.

No longer associating Timothy witli him (contrast Col 1', Ph 1'), but speaking only in his own name, he writes what is rather an encyclical treatise, a Cath. Ep., than a mere letter (cf . Ro and 1 P). Dropping all tone of controversy, and with only side allusions to false teaching, he tries to vnn them to a higher standard by a picture of the ideal Church which had been growing in his mind.

He had d(me something of the kind to the Romans before ; but that was an elaborate argu- ment trying to convince them that all needed re- demption, and that it had been brought to all by the power of Clirist. This is a statement that the re- demption has come, and that it has come — for here he is writing to Orientals — as part of a diWne wisdom, and leading men to a fuller knowle<lge (iTrLyyijiai.i, cf. 1 Co 1'^ avToU Si Toif (cXttto?!

, 'loi'Sa/oii re xoi "EXXtjo-i, Spiffxi;" QfoO bvvaiuv [the theme of Romans] Koi Qtov <ro(pla.i> [the theme of Ephesians]). He is anxious that they too (tal v/iiit, ' you in the recesses of Provincial Asia as well as the brethren at Rome,' Hort) should know what is haiijiening in his im- prisonment, that it is bringing fresh glory to the Gentile Christians (3") ; they need not be out of heart, for God is watching his fortunes with that same overruling |)ower which has ordered all his- tory.

He it wa.s — thanks be to Him — who eter- nally planned our redemption ; who chose the Jews for special privileges and promises ; who at the right moment revealed His Son an<l broke down the division between Jew and Gentile ; who has now drawn luith Jew and Gentile into one body ; who raised Christ and made Him Head of the Cliurch ; who enabled individuals to do good works; who is now building up His Church and watching over His apostle.

Therefore, you must lift up your hearts and minds ; you must keep the unity which He ha« given ; you must not be drawn bark into the old impure aimless life ; you must build up family life ; and you must remember tb/)* 720 EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO EPHESUS round about you, as about tlie Jews of old or about the Rora.

Empire now, there are enemies, spiritual enemies ; you must be ready botli for defence and for attack, for you have to tight God's battles, and to represent His cause and to illustrate His wisdom in the eyes of the angels. Peace, Love, and Faith : these are the graces wliich I ask for you. Such was the substance of the letter : whether St. Paul inserted any address must be uncertain.

Either he inserted iv 'E0^<rv, but as Tychicus was intended to leave it at other Churches too, other names were inserted by these Churches in their own copies, or more prooably a blank was left from the first that Tychicus might fill it up with the name of each Church to which he read the letter ; possibly, again, several copies may have been made at Rome for the dili'erent Churches, and carried by Tychicus.

It ia a legacy of peace left to the CJnurch by Paul the aged, 'das Testament des greisen Apostels' (Jiilicher) ; 'one of the divinest compositions of man ' (Coleridge, Table Talk) ; vori- fidruv ^(TTTj 7] iTTiffToXi] v-'priKGiv Kal 6oyiiA.T(av{%. Chrys. Comm.) ; truth expressed 'sub specie gratiarum actionis ' (Theod. Mops, on 1^). ' Though the vehement moods of tlie earlier contests have sub- sided, many parts of the Ep. glow with a steady white heat (Hort, p. 153).

It is a letter rising at times to the level of a poem, ' the Christian's (iSth Psalm ' (Dr. Kay) ; ' ipso verhorum tenore et quasi rhythmo canticum imitatur' (Bengel on S""') ; 'der ganze erste Haupttheil (1-3) liat liturg- ischen Charakter und erscheint in seinen Hrihe- pnnkten wie einer jener B/Mvoi durch welche nacli Col 3'*, Eph .5-', die Christen sieh belebren goUen' (Von Soden). When St. Paul wrote this letter, he was, as at Philippi, singing hymns in prison. v. Doctrinal Importance.

— The doctrines implied in the whole group of tlie Epp. of the Captivity are well analyzed, and tlieir relation to that of tne prerious Epp. dra«Ti out, in B. Weiss, Bibl. Theol. part iii. § lii. Those whicli are most prominent in this particular Ep. are — (a) The Universal Fatherhood of God {iraHip ap- plied to God eight times ; in Ro only four times).

While the unity of God's nature is the starting- point of the whole argument (4'), yet He is represented as the Fatlier of the Lord Jesus Christ (1'), i.e. there is within the Godhead a relationship of Father and Son, there is a giving forth of lire and love (1' tu rryairTj/x4v(f)), there is a social bond, so that every community, whether of an"els or of men, is named after and reflects the fatherhood of God (3" jrarpid here only in St. Paul).

He is in the widest and most absolute sense ' the Father ' (2'» 3" 5» 6^) ; the Father of the glory manifested in men (1") ; the Father of all (4«) ; the Father of us Christians (P).

(6) The Pre-existence of Christ — and this not merely in relation to God, as elsewhere, but in relation to man, so that before the foundation of the world He contains within Himself ideal Humanity (1), and men have only to grow up into that which He already is (4'- ") : and also in relation to the whole universe which centred originally in Him, and is re-centred in Him by the Incarnation (1>* ivaKapaXaiiiaaadai, 2" 4" <Iti;X- Xorpioi^^fOl).

(c) The Diqnity of Human Nature, as redeemed \vithin the Cliurch, lifted above this earthly sphere 'nto tlie heavenlies, showing forth the attributes of God Himself to the world, and becoming a link for the wliole creation (1=» 2» 3"- '» 4« [r^j f(ii,j toC Gtou] 4" 6' funvral ToO eeoD, 6 6"). (rf) The Continuity of all History in the past • P, 6819 ia quoted In 48 ; there are other possible remini- ecences o[ it ; e.g. cf. Pa with 51^ ; 10 with l-»8 ■ 17 with 2'.!

3 • w »d »• with 1» ; 37 Mid » with sa. M ; «j and > with 3" 6ii> ' and in the future. Each itaipiSt is regarded as con- tributing its quota to the whole, until tlie wlioU complement of Kaipol sliall be complete (1'" ri TrXJipuna. tCiv Kaipu>i> [cf. Mk 1", Lk 21-J and 3"). (c) The Essential Unity of tlie Church, as based upon the unity of <!

od, as an ideal already realized, yet needing to be secured (4'), and in a sense still future (4'°) ; as practically begun by baptism (4*), and as secured by the gift of an organized ministry, whose purpose is to fit all Christians for the work of servnce (wpds Karaprta^bp tCjv ayiwv c/s fpyov iia- Kovlas), to build up Church life until the complete unity is secured (4"' "). (/) The Insistence on Wisdom and Knowledge, as an integral and necessary part of the true re- ligious life.

This truth, which St. Paul had first proclaimed in the centre of Gr. philosophy at Athens (Ac 17^, cf. Hort, Hulsean Lect. p. 62), is here more explicitly laid down in an epistle to Gentiles. The value of this insistence is all the more striking as addressed to converts who were in- clined to give an apparently undue value to know- ledge. The remedy for a little knowledge is more knowledge. (g) The Consecration of Family Life.

Family life is regulated in Col (3"-4') : it is dignified in 1 P (2"-3') as a means whereby Christians may hope to attract heathens to the faith ; but here it is lifted to a higher level still, as a type and nurseiy of Church life.

(h) The Picture of the Christian at a Soldier, and his life as a warfare, which finds its fullest expression here, has had a wonderful influence both on Christian history and on Cliristian litera- ture, enriching the latter with poems and allegories such as the Psychomachia of Prudentius, and the Pilgrim's Progress and the Taking of Mansottl by Bunyan, and nerving many a Christian hero and martyr for his task. vi. Literathrb. — If we may see a literary dependence of 1 P and of the Apoc.

upon our Ep., ita importance must have been recognized at once, and it must have been at once known in Rome ; the reminiscences found In the sub-apos. writers show a knowledge of it at least in Asia Minor ana Italy. There is some evidence that it was commented upon by the Gnostics in the 2nd cent. Origen wrote three books upon it, large fragment* of which are preser\'ed in Cramer's Catena^ vol. vi. ; probably a much larger part is embodied in Jerome's Commentarj/. In the next cent.

Ephraem the Syrian, Victorinus the African, Ambrosiaater, St. Chrysostom, and Severianus, and rather later Theodore of Mopsues'tia, Theodoret, and Jerome, treated it in their general comm. on St. Paul's Epp. For an account of these comm. see Lightfoot, G(U. (pp. 217 ff.), and Swete's ed. of Theodore of Mopsuestia (vol. i. pp. lix-lxxix). For later comm. cf. Meyer's Comm. (Introd.), or Macpherson, pp. 96-106. St. Chrysostom remains still the best comm.

for his combina- tion of exegetical, doctrinal, and spiritual power, and for sympathy with the writer's mind and character.

He want* exact treatment of exegetical difficulties, and is at times fanci- ful ; but he seizes well the whole drift of a passage ; he never avoids discussing a difficulty ; he has a Ann hold on doctrine, and is especially strong in the spiritual application of truth, dwelling on the contrast between virtue and vice ; on the strength of the will, on the beauty of the Christian character in contrast to the unnaturalness and impotence of sin.

Theo- dore of Mopsuestia is acute as an exegete, but has leas spiritual insight: e.g. he explains all the blessings spoken of in the Ep. a4 referring to a future life. Of mod. comm. Macpherson (Edinr. 1892) is full and useful, but not very stimulating; Ellicott, Alford, Moule(Camb. Bible), Beet, are "all good ; Bishop Lijthtfoofa notes on 1'" have been published posthumously (A o(#s on the Kpp. of St. Paid, 1895). W. Schmidt in Meyer's Comm.

on yx, and Von Soden in the HarulkomTnentar zum XT (Freiburg, 1891), are excellent in exegesis. For the doctrinal treatment of the Ep., Dale, Lectures oi* Eph., and Findlay in The b'xpot. Bible, are equally good, though both fail to rise to the writer's conception of the Church. For devotional use, Bemardine of Picquii:ny. in l.at. or In Eng. (tr. by A. H. Pritchard. 18S.S), is most useful. The intro- ductory questions are best dealt with by PHoiderer, PaulinOtm. ii. pp.

102-193; Von Soden, ubis%ij)ra\ and lloltzmann. Kritik der Rjihexer- und Kolotnter-bri^fe, Leipzig. 1882, aa against the Pauline authorship : on behalf of it. by Lightfoot, Bil'l. Ktmy ; Hort, I'rnUtiomena to the Ho. and Eph. 189.*» ; A. Robcrtsoo in Smith's Z)£f2 ; Weiss. Introd. to NT ; Zahn, Einl. • W. Lock. EPHESUS ('E^<ro«) was the metropolis of th« Koman {)rovince of Asia (wh.

see), and one of the three great cities of the East Mediterranean lands (along ^vith Antioch in Syria and Alexandria in Egypt), a rank to which geographical and his- torical causes conspired to raise it. It was situated within 3 miles of the sea, on the river Cayster, which was navigable as far up as the city in the liom. period.

It stood at the entrance to one of the four river valleys that extend upwards and eastwards like long narrow clefts in the high plateau forming the main muss of Asia Minor ; these valleys are separated by chains of moun- tains, which are really prolongations, like fingers, stretching out towards the \V. from the main plateau.

The roads connecting the western sea, the JEgeaa, with the central and eastern lands, must necessarily follow the lines of these four valleys ; and near the mouth of each of them stood a Gr. city, in which the importance of the valley was centred. The four vaJleys are those of the river Caicus with the city Pergamus, of the Hermus with Smyrna, of the Cayster with E., and of the Ma-ander with Miletus. The four cities played a prominent part in the early history of Christianity in Asia Alinor.

The shorter courses of the Caicus and Cayster make their vallejys un- Buited for routes of communication with the far East ; and natural circumstances make the road that leads up from the Hermus valley to the plateau too dilticult. Hence the route up the M.Tander to its junction with the Lycus, and thence up tlie Lycus i)y Laoilicea (wh.

see) towards Apamea, has been the great road of history, and was one of the chief avenues of intercourse, of commerce, and of advanc- ing civilization and thought under the Rom. Empire. Now E., from the bef'inning, competed with Miletus as the seaport towards which the trade of that great ronH wa.s attracted ; for, owing to the configuration ot the coa-st and of the valley, the line from the I-yrus down the Mseander, and across the moun- tains by a pass only about 600 ft. high to E.

, is shorter by many miles than the line down the Ma-ander to Miletus. The superior energy and more thoroughly Gr. character of the people of Miletus, combined with their more advantageous harbour, gave them the advantage in earlier times ; but under the later Gr. kings, and still more de- cisively under the Roman rule, E.

had established itself in undisputed sujiremacy as the sea-end of the great eastern highway, while the silting up of the Mseander seems to have been permitted to interfere with the excellence of the liarbour of Miletus. Thus E. became the great commercial centre for the whole country within, i.e. on the Roman side of, Mt. Taurus, as Slrabo mentions (p. 641, cf. pp. 640, 603). On the great line of communication between Rome and the East in general, E.

was one of the knots where many side roads converged to feed the main route. From the N. and the S. coa.sting ships and land roads (Ac 19'' 20'-", 1 Ti 1', 2 Ti 4") brought travellers to the city on their way to Rome, or carried away travellers and oilicials who were going from Rome to other parts of the pro- vince. Thus it was a regulation that the Rom. governors under the empire must land at E.

; and ♦,he Hystem of roads was such as to make the city the most ea-sily accessible from all quarters of Asia. Hence it was naturally marked out as the centre where St. I'aul should station hiiii.sulf in order to aUcct that great province ; and from thence the new religion radiated over the whole of the pro- vince (Ac 19'"), partly through the fact that great numbers of the provincials came to E. for various purposes {e.g. to trade, to see the great Rom.

festivals and shows, to worship the great goddess, etc.), and heard the word, and carried it back to their homes, partly through special missions on VOL. I. — Af> which, doubtless, St. Paul's helpers, like Timothy and others, were sent by him. Corinth was the next great knot on the way to Rome, and coni- muniiation between E. and Corintli must have been very frequent. The ship that conveyed St. Paul to Jerus. from Corinth, doubtless a pUgriin ship carrying Jews to Jerus.

ex])rcssly for tlie Passover, crossed first to E. (Ac 18''), ami theme coasted round Asia Minor, and crossed, doubtless by the W. side of Cyprus, to the Syrian coast >as in Ac 21'). The same character, as a pilgrim shi]), doubtless belonged to the ship by which St. Paul intended to sail from Corinth tor the Passover four years later (Ac 20^) ; on board of such a ship Jewish fanaticism would have been specially strong, and the conspiracy which was dreaded by St.

Paul's friends would have had every chance of being successful. After St. Paul's work in Asia was ended, Timothy seems to have been stationed in E. for a time (1 Ti 1'), with general authority, extending probably over the wTiole province, as is implied throughout the first Epistle ; and he was sum- moned thence by St. Paul to join him in Rome during his second imprisonment (2 Ti 4") ; and Jolin Mark must have been in Asia, perhaps in or at least near E.

, at that time, as Timothy was charged (4") to bring Mark with him to Rome. A wide acquaintance of Mark with the Asian Churches is implied in Col 4'", 1 P 5" ; and on each of the journeys between Rome and Asia which are implied in these pas.s.ages, he must have liassod through Ephesus. The rank of the Ephe.4an Church in the province is attested further by its being named first in Rev 1" 2'. It became the home of St.

John in the latter part of the century ; and a few incidents of his residence in E. are pre- served by Eusebius. According to tradition, not merely 'limothy and John, but also the Virgin Mary, were buried at Ephesus.

* The connexion of the Ephesian city harbour with the sea deiiended on the jiroper maintenance of the diannel of the Cayster ; but this was dithcult, for the river, which drains a valley of fertile alluvial soil, carried much silt in its water, and dei)Osited this toward its mouth, as the current became weak. According to Strabo (p. 641), an ill-advised engineer- ing scheme under tlie Pergamenian king Attains Philadelphus (n.C.

159-138), when a breakwater was built to narrow the entrance from the river, increased the tendency to silt up the mouth of the city harbour; and in A.D. 65 measures had to be taken by the governor of Asia to iriiiuovo the con- nexion Letween the harbour and the sea (Tacit. Ann. xvi. 23). Either then or at some other time, an embankment, which can still be seen as one rides down from E. to the sea (see Weber, p.

52), was built along the lower course of the river, to help the action of the stream in sweeping the silt out towards the sea. The harbour of E. was maintained, ajiparently, under the Rom. Empire ; but in later centuries the care and energy needed for so great a task failed, the harbour became a mere marsh, and with it E. necessarily decayed, as its qualifications for being the sea-end of the great higliway had ceased. Even in the time of St.

Paul, • Ab to the Biipposerf connexion o( St Luko with K.,noancient evidence for it fXislB (l)ut raliicr only contrary evidence); in Ac there is nothing to Bug^eHt pcrHonal Itnowledife of the city on tite part of the autlior ; and the 80-called ' Toinlt of St. Luke' iH liie creation of a mere error on tiie part of Mr. J. T. Woo<i, who niist4>ok a rude cross, incised in lat<jr tiincB on the murhle door of an old Gr.

polyandrion or fnniily toniii, for a proof of the ChriMtian ori^'in of the monuniont, inm;;inin(; tliut the flmire of a hull (a tir. ornament) wliidi was sculptured on it was the symbol of St. Luke, and coniplelitiK tiis delusion hy ttle false belief that the moilern name Avassuluk (on which see below) was derived from "Aj-iof \ovxitt.

Vet from his idea tltere ha« been develope'l a tno*lern leu'cnd ; and in recent years there hoA been some attempt to institute a ceremonial at tliU false ' tomb of St. Luke.' 722 KPHESUS EPHESUS it was somewhat troublesome to ascend the channel to the harbour ; and ships which were trading be- tween the N. jEgean ports and Syria, avoided E., unless the exigencies of loading or discharging freight req uired them to enter the harbour (Ac 20"").

While the road up the Cayster valley towards the East was too difficult to be a commercial route, it afforded decidedly the shorter path from E. to Pisidian Antioch and the East in general ; and naturally foot-passengers, to whom precipitous crescents causea no difficulty, would prefer that road to the longer but more level route by Apamea and Laodicea. The Cayster route leads over higher ground than the other, and does not descend into the low coast valley till it comes nearer E.

; and this also would make it preferable in the summer. Hence St. Paul, jouxneying from Pisidian Antioch to E., preferred the Cayster route, and traversed the higher-lying districts (i-d dvi^fpiKi. iiipri, Ac 19') ; * and the statement of Ac on this point is confirmed by Col 2', which shows that the apostle had never visited Colossae or Laodicea (which were situated on the great high- way).

He had doubtless entered on the same path in his second journey, when, after re\-isiting Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, he advanced into Asia, but found himself ' forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia' (Ac 16'). The lower end of the Cayster valley is di\nded from the middle valley (called the Caystrian plain) by the projection of the bounding mountain ranges, for Mt. Gallesus on the N. stretches down towards the S., as if trying to reach across the valley to Mt.

Messogis (the part of which overlook- ing E. was called Pactyas), and forces the Cayster to wind southward, when it is coming near the sea- level. Below this narrow pass, the valley opens again to form a low marsny plain, raised very little above the sea, from wLicn the hills spring very sharply, as Mt. Coressus, the outermost peak of Pactyas, overhanging the site of E., extends in a long sharp ridge westward towards the sea ; and the Cayster turns again sharply to the W.

through this 13 miles long plain to the sea. In the open plain, about 5 miles from the sea, on the S. side of the river, stands a little hill, close on the W., above the modem raOway station ; this hill has always been the religious centre of the valley ; below its S.W.

slope stood the sacred precinct of the Asian goddess, who was identified by the Greeks with their own Artemis (see DiANA) ; on the hill Justinian built one of his greatest ecclesiastical foundations,t the church (whose ruins, projecting out of the hill, can still be traced) dedicated to St. John the Evangelist (6 (S7105 BeoXbyoi, from whom the hill and the little village beside is still called Ayo-soliik or Ayas-saliik, i.e.

Ayo-tholog) ; and between the two was built a fine mosque, formerly one of the most exquisite monuments of late Arab.- Pers. art, now seriously dilapidated (founded prob- ably by one of the Seljuk princes, who reigned and coined money with Lat. inscription X at Ayo- soliik). Round this religious centre the earliest and the latest inhabitants have congregated ; whereas, in opposition to the religious foundation, the Gr. colonists built the city of E., at a distance of 1 to 2 miles S.-W.

, partly on the slope of Coressus, partly on the low ground at its foot, and * In this senUnce we speftk onlv on the ' South Galatian ' theory (Ramsay, Church in Rom. 'Bmp. p. 93 f., esp. ed. 2 or luter editions); those who hold the 'North Galati&n' view may omit tills one sentence. t It IB brielly described by Procopius, ^dific. t. 1, as etjualling In size and magnificence Justinian's great foundation in Con- atantinople, the Church o( the Holy Apostles.

Justinian built it in place of an earlier church 00 the same site, dedicated to St. John. 1 Mimtta qua fit in theologo. Several of these coins were among a find made In the soil, a little to the north of the t«mple, by ilr. Wood. The coins had been buried about 1370. partly on a low isolated hill, called Pion or Prion (about 500 ft.), which rises in the plain. The history of E.

turns, to a ^eat extent, on the opposition between the Greeks, the party of progress and freedom and maritime enterprise, and the non-Gr. population, centred at the temple, and championed by the priesthood, the party of stagnation and ignorance and Asiatic submission. The Lydian conquest by Croesus for a time en- slaved the city to the temple ; the new founda- tion of E. by Lysimachus in B. C.

295 again redressed the balance ; * but the proximity of the temple gave it always an immense power in the city. The city owed its pre-eminence in the province in part to the temple, for the temple was the greatest and most influential in Asia, and the city boasted of the title 'warden of the temple of Artemis ' veuKbpot r^t 'Apri/uSot, Ac 19^, lit. ' temple-sweeper,' in KV 'temple-keeper,' in AV 'worshipper.' The title ' Temple- Warden ' is more commonly applied to E.

, and to many other Asian cities, as warden of a temple of the imperial cultus ; in the time of St. Paul, E. was warden of one such temple, and later she became warden of two temples, and finally of three temples of the imperial religion (Sis, rpis, peuKipo!) ; and when the Eph. Neocorate simply is mentioned, that is the sense in which it is ordin- arily to be understood, t But the ref. to the Eph. Neocorate of Artemis in Ac 19^ is justified by an inscription of the 2nd cent., in which E.

is said to be ' doubly temple-warden of the Emperors, and warden of Artemis ' (Sis i/euKo'pos rir Se^acrrwi' /tai feuKdpot T^s 'kprtiuSos, Wood, Appendix Inscr. vi. 6, p. 50) ; and coins of the 3rd cent, have the legend 'Eipeaiuv rpU vecjKdpwv Kal ttjs ^Apr^fuSoSj i.e. ' triply temple-warden (of the emperors), and (temple-warden) t of Artemis.' The festivals of the goddess were thronged by pilgrims and de- votees from the Cayster valley and from the whole of Asia.

The crowds which attended these festivals contributed greatly to the wealth of the city ; many trades were mainly dependent on the pilgrims, who required entertainment, food, amusement, victims to sacrifice, otlerings to dedi- cate, curiosities and images for worship to carry home.§ The order of events during St. Paul s long residence in E.

of 2 years and 3 months (Ac \9^- '", called 3 years by the apostle himself, Ac 20^', in the usual ancient style of reckoning an intermediate period by the superior round number) illustrates in a striking way the relation of the priestly centre to the preaching of Christianity. At first there was no opposition ; for new religions, which were often brought in from the east, had never been found prejudicial to the influence of Artemis and her priests.

Then the missionaries were brought into collision with the practisers and votaries of magic ; E. was one of the great centres of magical art, and a kind of magic formulae, • Even under the Delian confederacy It seems clear that the Eph. contribution of 6 to 7^ talents v>-as paid only under compulsion (Head, p. 18), and the Gr. spirit was nearly dead. Lysimachus called his new city Arsiuoe, aft«r his wife, but thi« name lasted onlv a few years. t The Eph.

Neocorate in the Imperial cultus is first men- tioned on coins of Nero ; probably the ref. is to the Auijutteum. a temple built in tiie precinct of Artemis to Romeand Augustus by the city E. (not by the Commune Agio;, see Asia, asiarcii) before B.c" 6 (\Vood. Appendix, L 1) ; Buchner, de Neocoria, p. 38, indeed considers that the reference is to a temple of Claudius, which he supposes to have been dedicated by the Cfimmune Agi£B, on account of aid given to the city by the emi^eror, MaJalas. p.

246, ed. Bonn ; out there is no evidence that such a temple ever existed. The second imperial neo- corate was granted under Hadrian, and the third under Cara- culla. A decree of the Senat was required to grant this dis- tinction (08 Asia was a senatorial province). I The phrase rirpaxic lu^xcpM on the later coinj refer to this same fact. g Artemis Ephesia wos worshipped more widely by private persons thiui any other deity known to Pausanias (iv. 3L 8 ; cl also Xen. Anab. v. 3.

4X EPHESUS EPHESUS 723 called Epiiesian Letters {'Etp^aia ypd^ifmra), liecnme famous: the nirt<;:icians were naturallv soon arrnj'cti in oj>i>osition to the reli^j^ion wliieli freed the hninan mind from such superstitions ; but their disrouilituie (Ac 19'^-") would not directly and ininie<liately allcct the priests and the temple.

As time passed and the new reli^non became more powerful, it began to allect the worsliippers, who aid not need so many artit^es for dedication (dm- ^;«ira), and ceased to purchase the small repre- •cntAtiou.s of the goddess in her shrine, which were produced in vast numbers and in various materials — gUver, marble, and terra-cotta, (see Diana). Thus several trades were seriously attected, and the associated trades (rot)?

w€pl tA roiavra ^/rydras, Ac ly-^), under the leadersliip of one of their wealthy merchants (who dealt in silver shrines,' and therefore needed more capital for his business in the precious metal), Demetrius, probably master of the guild for the year.t eager to defend their interests, raised a demonstration against the Christian preachers. It is clear that in the riot the Christians ran serious risk (Itf*).

and that, even after (and also before) the riot, the passions and superstitions of the vulgar mob, having once been roused against the puritanic tendencies of the Chrwtians, continued to be a serious danger to St. Paul (1 Co 15=*^ W, 2 Co 1«-'"). The early stagt-s of the riot involve some reference to the topo- graphy of ki'h(.su8. It Is obvious that the in(Iammator>- speech of Demetrius w:ia deliverer!

at a meetinj; of the associated trades, doubtUiis held in a buildinjr bt-Ion^riny to the guild {VJ'^^). The text of the Bczan Codc\ explicitly states (wha obviously must have occurred) that the OiwemUed tradesmen and craftsmen then rushe^J out Into the street (vt t« ittt^do), and at last con- gregmted in the theatre. The ruins of the theatre are on a lar^^e ■cafe ; and it has been calculated that the building could hold 24,000 people.

It was situated on the western slope of Mount Pico, overfookinjr the city harbour (which is now a marsh). It is an int4.-resting and iraporUint point that the Asiarchs wtn friendly to St. Paul, and intcr\eiicd to save him from wiventuring himself in the crowd.

They doubtless pointed out to him that his presence would still further enrage the excited crowd ; that if the mob once proceetled to violence, they were more likely to extend their violence to his companions; and that the t>esl course therefore was for St. Paul not to show bini- telf at the moment. The attitude of the Asiarchs may be taken as a fair indication of the feeling entertained towards St.

Paul by the eitucatcd and influential cla^ in the city, and also of the attitude of the imperial administration, for they were othcials of the province, not of the city ; they were part of the Horn. Imperial machinery.

It is perhaps implied In Ac 1931 that they were present as a body or council in the city : this may be accounted (or either by a festival which was in progress aW>ut the same time, or by the natural apjiroprtateness of a provincial bo<Jy orcoun'ril meeting in the capital of the province. A council of the Asiarchs is probably referred to in an Apamean Inscription (Ramsay, VUif^ aiul liuhoprics of J'hrygia, ii. No. 290). In the narrative (Ac 191^*1) allusions occur to the government o( E.

, and also of the whole province of Asia. The Town-Clerk, or ' Secretary of the City ' (ypxfM.aMTiCt), appears as an otHcial of rreatauUiority ; the assembly of the citizens (isaXtjri'a) is men- tioned as the highest munici^ authority ; and the Roman oourt« (lonventus, mi my*pti7ot, i.e. i.yofi»i lixCt) and proconsuls are declared to be the final Judicial authority in case of any complaint a^inst Individuals. Tlie government of the nitmi- cipalityof E..

like that of the other great A»ian cities, was lodged in Uie haiidM of two deliberative bodies, the Senate (^«f Af) and the Assembly (U«>-r^.«), and of certain boanls of magistrates, notably the .Strategoi (rrflxryry*!) All power ultimately resided In the Assenibly of the citizens; and m the old free Or. city- constitution the Awtenitily had really held the reins of {K>wer, and •xerciMed the final control over all the other departments of the gorenimcnt. But its meetings under the Rom.

system tended in J»©c*»nie mere fnnnalities, at which the Bills sent to it by the J)eiiat« were merely approved ; for (he imperial governiuenl, whi'ii had abolished the powers of the popular assembly in Eonie, naturally discouraged popular aHseinSlies in the cities of the empire; when 8t. Paul, however, was at K.

, the Aiwfmbly was still, in name at least, the supreme and final authority in the city (Ac 19^), where tlie liut decision lay on niatt4:r8 that did not properly fall within the cognizance of the Koin. courts and • Perhaps an example of thew Ephftia f^rammata occur* on a coin of the ImiKjrial time, as Mr. Head suggests in his Cat. Brit. Ahts. (Ionia), p. 70. t At K.

the guilas of the Woolworkers (Katwrnpiti), the Sur- veyors (v«ujv<w), and the Workmen before the Uatc (i^yaiTaj wfiruki'iT»i ffitt f-M n«ri«%vH) are mentioned in inscriptions. A list of trade guilds in the Asian cities is givi>ri by Oohler in Branng Viiulot/oiu'tviiSf p. ^7(J t. ; cl. Liebeuam Hotni*cftr» Vtreiixnoeten, p. 167. offlcerB ; and it is also regularly mentioned in the preamble to decrees, along with the Sen;.

te, as giving validity and authority to tlecrees wliich had been prepared by tbe Senate and sub- mitted to it for itH a]>pro\al.* The Senate (^tuXt,) in the Asian cities was transfonned by gnidual steps from the old Or. form of a body elected annually by the citizens, to the Rom. form of a body tille<i up by dibtiiigui^hed citizens (esu. all who had held any of the higher magiistrucics), retaining ineir seats for life.

Concurrently with this change in its constitution, it encroached more and more on the powers of the Assembly. But at the same time another transfurming process went on simul- taneously, as the Horn, imperial authority encroached OD the municipal privilege of self-administration ; and in this trans- fonnatum tiie Senate was made by slow steps a mere instrument of the Itom. imperial government. The Secretary of the city (>'^at,u^Asru>< r^t wotitax, called also i 'E^i'/'!'

ypctfj-fMLTti/f, or yfiOLfjLfjM.Ttu( Tou iy.fM>v) was perhaps the most influential individual in the city. Mr. Hicks well says that • OS the real vigour of the Assembly declined in the atmos- phere of imperial rule, it was more and more left to the Secretary to arrange the business of the Assembly. Together with the Strategoi he drafted the decrees to be propo-scd.t He had tlie decrees engraved. He took charge of money left to the people of Epheaus.'

Further, it is clear that he acted as a channel of communication between the Rom. provincial administration and themunioii)ality (tf.a. intlie inscription. Hicks, p. 154) ; and thus, as the Rom. central authority encroached on the municipality, the Secretary l>ecame more and more important.

These facts explain the part played by this ollicial in Ac llP^-**, an incident which throws a clear light on this obscure subject, and is in perfect accord with all that we learn about it from other sources.

He came forword as the agent of the municipal government, and calmed the mob by a skilful speech ; he spoke of the close relation between the city and the temple, and the sacredness of the gmidess, as universally acknowledged ; he mentioned, as an obvious and familiar fact, that Paui and his associates had not been guilty of acts or words disresjiectful to the goddess (see Cm KcnKtt.'

RomiBkS of); he pointed out that there was an establitilu'd method of legal procedure, whereby they should seek redress for any injury of which they complained, but that persistence in their riotous conduct was criminal, and likely to call down severe punishment; and then he dismissed the assembly. His recognition of the meeting as an ixxXr.ffm was important : he did so in order to shield it, so far as he could, from lioiiian censure.

The Sei-Tetary advised the concourse to disperse, and wait until Uie lawful Ecclesia (8o AV, regular asseniblv RV) should meet, and settle anything furihcr which they wislud to bring before it. The old" Gr. distinction between regular ordinary meetings on days agreed beforehand {*o/Muai ixKXvrteti, Hicks, No. 481, 1. 34U) and extraorditiary meetings, specially suiu- nioned, had been modified by the Rom. government in such a way that pennis.sion of the Rom.

olhcials was reipiired before a meeting of the Kcclesia could be legally held ; and from this it resulted that no extniordinary A8semi)ly could be sunuuoned except by the Rom. othcials tliemselves, who had the right to call the people together at any time.

l Hence this suddenly conxened meeting was not legal, and couhl not carry any busi- ness through ; and, moreover, it might provoke inquiry from the Romans (who were always jealous ot the right of free meeting), and even result in punishment (such as the prohil>ition for a time of all right of holding the Ect^lesia) ; for, as the Secn-tary pointed out, the city could not Justify it by pleaduig any rause for it. In the city of E.

, then, there were three distinct powers, which were broii^dit into contactor conflict in the 1st and 2nd cent. : the hierarcliy of the tcmjile, t!ie government of the city, and the new reli<,'ion preached by St. Paul. At hrst it is clear that there was no opposition on the part of the municipal government to Christianity.

The Sec- retary of the city speaks for tlie government, and points out that the Christians have not been guilty of disrespect in act or word towunls the established system, while the rioters have brought the city into danger of reprimand and imnishnient from the imperial rule. Thi; wliule tone is one of superiority to, and aliiuist of contempt for, the 8uperstitii)us vtilgar, together witli recognition of the right of St. Paul to preach, so lon^x as he showed proper respect to the laws and in.

stitutions of the city. A convinced Cliristian, who was at the same time a man of atlairs, could not have taken a line tliat wa,s better calculated to put St. I'aul in the right and tlie rioters in the wron-: ; and we shall probably not err in believing that the general tone of the educated otiieials and tlie priests of high rank at this time was one of perfect • It Is best described by M. L6vy, lievue cfes £'fui/c> Grrcjuff. IH!»f>, p. 2u:itt.

t This implies that he sat on the board of the Strategol aa an as.sessor (or perhaps as ly chairman). t LAvy In Jievue de Etude Urecquet, 1805, p 216. 724 EPHESUS EPHESUS equanimity and general philosophic interest in the preaching of St. Paul, whereas the superstitions and vulfiar mob were strongly opposed to him. This state of opinion lasted till near the end of the Ist century.

But the violent feelings roused during the persecution of Domitian, combined with the realization on the part of the officials and the higher i)iiesthood that the growing power of Christianity threatened the existing order of things, and would, if successful, sweep it away, led to a union among all the classes which were not opposed to the existing order, i.e. among all who were not Christians.

We may confidently assume, also, that at first Christianity spread with great rapidity and produced a neglect of the Eph. ritual similar to that which Pliny describes as ha\Tng existed in Bithynia, until the measures carried outbyhiminA.D. 112 caused a reri val of the pagan worship [Epist. ad Trajan. 95). A similar revival of paganism in E. about the same period is attested oy ancient documents, as Canon Hicks was the first to recognize clearly. A great inscription, dating A.D. 104 (Hicks, No.

481, p. 135), contains a series of decrees honouring C. Vibius Salutaris, a Rom. citizen resident in E., who had presented to the goddess and the city government a number of statues, images, and moneys, and arranging for the acceptance and use of the gifts and for the institution of a new festival and procession which should unite and bind more closely together the sanctuary and the city of Artemis.

From this time onwards the city began to boast more than before of its title of ' temple-guardian of Artemis ' {veuKipoi 'Apr^/iiSot) : and the imperial government also allied itself with the religion of Artemis, for under Hadrian imperial silver coins bear the type and legend of DIANA EPHESIA, showing that the vindication of the goddess was accepted as a duty by the emperor as Pontifex Maximus (for Rom. coins could not bear the effigy and title of any but a Rom. deity).

This agreement of the imperial government, tlie municipal authorities, the temple- hierarchy, and the superstitious mob of the city, lasted unbroken until Christianity triumphed. It is true that the text of a decree, passed by the Senate and Assembly of E. in A.D. 161, is commonly quoted ' as an involuntary confession of the decline of the Artemis-worshijj under the growing influence of the new faith,' and as an indication that the reaction visible in A.D. 104 had ceased. The text (Hicks, No.

482, p. 145), according to the usually accepted interpretation, states that ' the Eph. goddess, whose worship had hitherto been uni- versally recognized, was now being dishonoured, not only in her own city {iy tj iat/rij! Trarpioi dTijuarai), but also amon" Greeks and barbarians.' But, as has been urged in Classical Eev. 1S".)3, p. 100, it is impossible to accept the idea that a decree in honour of the goddess had such an ill- omi!

ned introduction (for to ancient feeling it was profane and impious and dangerous to use such words) ; and probably there has been a slight error of the engiaver, who wrote 5i once instead of twice, thus reversing the meaning ; the true text, then, states that Artemis is honoured in her own city and everywhere (irarplSi Siariyaarai).* The temi)le of Artemis at E. was one of the greatest and most famous architectural works known to the ancient world. The building wliidi existed when St.

Paul lived in E. was not the oldest temple. An earlier temple, containing columns dedicated by Croesus, king of Lydia, B.C. 560-539 (frajTments of which are now exhibited in the Brit. Mus. containing parts of the king's dedicatory inscriptions — Ilicks, p. 173, No. 518), * In his (ufrftfrufa, CaDOD Hicks also iB disposed to recognize on Bograver'0 blunder but not finally completed until alwut B.C. 400, was burnt to the ground in B.C.

356, on the sama night that Alexander the Great was born ; and a vast temple, measuring, according to Pliny, 425 ft. by 220,* was built in its place with the help of contributions from the whole of Asia (tota Asia exstruente, Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvi. 40, 213 ; cf. Hicks, p. 174) — a fact which attests the veneration paid to the goddess by the whole province (Ac 19", see also CIG, No. 2954, and Hicks, p. 144, No. 482, on the reading of which see above).

Owing to the marshy soU on which it stood, it required much care and contrivance to lay the foundations firmly (Pliny, Nat. Hist, xxxvi. 95). Possibly, the impres- siveness of this great temple suggested to St. Paul the allegory in 1 Co 3">-" (written from E.), and gave point to his words addressed to the Ephesians (220-22) .

^,^t jt, jg unnecessary to suppose that on each occasion, when he refers to the ideas of foundation or building, as in 1 Ti 3"> 6'», 2 Ti 2i9-», Ac 20''*, he was thinkmg of this temple. The sito of this temple was discovered by Mr. J. T. Wood in 1870, after many years' patient and laborious search ; but, unfortunately, he has given no sufficient indications as to what remains of the building he found actually in situ, and has left no plan of the site as it was when he uncovered it.

He merely gives his own restorations, and his ovm theories as to what the temple must have been when it was perfect ; but his knowledge of Gr. architecture was not so thorough as to make liis views trustworthy ; and it is hardly possible now to acquire sufficient knowledge of the facts to form a clear conception of the building.

Officials called vewTToiai or vfoTToiol were charged ' to take care of tlie fabric and repairs of the temple, and to super- intend any additions such as the setting up of inscriptions' (Hicks, p. 80). There can be no doubt that the Temple of Ephesian Artemis was used as a place of deposit for treasure both by the city and by private individuals (as, e.g., by Xenophon.^-l/Kift. v. 3. 4). This function strengthened the bonds that united the city and the temple.

It is uncertain how the treasure deposited in the temple by the city was managed, but, as Canon Hicks says (p. 82), ' it is remarkable how little is said in the Ephesian inscriptions about any financial officers.' Tlie temple and its precinct were inviolable : no arms niiglit be borne within the sacred precinct (implying that in primitive times, when arms were commonly carried, the goddess provided that her worship should be a peaceful influence). The Rom. government, in A.D.

22, recognized the right of a.sylum that be- longed to the soil of Artemis (Tacit. Ann. iii. 63) ; but the local limits of asylum varied widely at different periods. The twelve disciiiles of the baptism of John whom St. Paul found at E. (Ac \V>) had possibly been converted by Apollos during his recent visit; though it is more probable that a small sect of Jews had emigrated to E., as a great centre of commerce and intercourse, soon after the coming of St. John. St.

Paul, on his first brief visit, seems to have found tlie Jews in E. very well disposed towards the new teaching ; and, though a rupture between him and tliem is recorded (Ac 199), it is hardly described in such terms as to suggest that it was so serious as those that occurred in Corinth or Thessalonica. The existence of a Jewish colonv at E. in B.C. 44 is vouched for by Jos. Ami. iiv. X. 12 (cf. x'lv. x. 25, xn. vi. 2 and 7), when Dolabella granted them religious freedom (esp.

from engasre- nients inconsistent with proi>er observance of the Sabbath) iiikI e.\eniption from military service. When Augustus aftvrwanls contlrmed the privileges of the Asian Jews, esp. guaranteeing them safe-conduct for transmission of their offerings to Jerus., he doubtless had E. prominent in his mind (Jos. Ant. xvi. vi. 2, cf. Ac. 2y P^). Jewish inscriptions at Eph. are published. Hicks, Nos. 676, 617. Some of these Jews appear to have m.

ide a practice of exorcism and nKi;,'ic, Ac lO^^l", like Bar-jesus at Paphos, Ac 136 (see Sckva). Similar practices were engaged in by the Jewish settlers at Thyatira (wh. see). • According to Mr. Wood's measurement* the temple itsell measured 343 ft. by 164, and the stylobate or basement 41S ft by 239. EPHESUS EPHOD 725 When St. Paul broke with the Jews, he passed forth beyond the narrower circle which had come within the influence of the synagopie, and ad- dressed the entire Eph. population.

He was under- Btootl by the Ephesians to be the teaclier of a new school of philosopliy ; and, arrreeably to this view, he lectured daily in the school of Tyrannus (wh. see), juBt as other philosophers gave public lectures. In the Bezan Text there is added the statement that he tau^'ht from the 5th to the 10th hour. It is probable that this is correct, showin" that St. Paul employed the hours when the building would no longer be in use ; for the business in the A.

sian cities seems to have ended at the 5tli hour (one hour before midday). We may, then, picture Paul's life in Eph. aa spent thus : he wrought 'ni^ht and day' with his hands, i.e. he started his craft before sunrise and continued at work through the earlier hours of the day (Ac 20", 1 Co 4''-,t 1 Th 2) ; then, after the ordinary day's work was finished, he began to teach publicly in this build- ing, and expounded his philosophy to all comers freely. Tlie.

se public lectures were, as we might naturally expect, supplemented by teaching in private houses (Ac 20^). The name St. Paul's Primn, which is applied to a Gr. tower forming part of the line of fortitioation along the ridge of Coressus, near its W. end, is purely fanciful. There is no record tliat St. Paul was imprisoned in E. ; and, if he had been im- prisoneii, this tower is not tlie kind of place where he would have been immured.

' It is a twostorejed fort with eight chambers, and the upper storey is reached by an external staircase ' (A\ ilson, Hnnd- book, p. 99). There are some important Christian remains in the city, notably the double church near the gj-mnasium adjoining the theatre. This church is older than the great Basilica of St. John the Evangelist on the hill at Ayo-Soluk j and may well be the verj- church where tJie Council was held in A.D. 431. J On the E.

side of Mount Pion, over- hanging the road that leads from the temple of Diana to the Magnesian Gate of the city, is a rock- hewn church, close to a cave in which the 'Seven Sleepers of E.' were, according to tlie legend, saved from the Rom. persecution by a slumber of some centuries' duration. The actual foundation of a Christian community in E. may be a.scribed to Priscilla and Aquila (wh. see), whom St.

Paul left there at his hrst hnrried visit (Ac IS"), and whom he found there on his return. LiTKRATt'RB. — The vast niofls of lit. about E. is to a g^reat extent antiquated by recent works. The inscriptions, with the coninienlarics of Iloeckh and ilioks, must fomi the foun- dation of nil nieth<xlieal Htudy. On the topography, see e»p. Weber, tiuide du Voyatjeur A KpMM, Smyme, 1891 (ex- oehenl maps) ; also Sir C. Wilson, UandUtok to Ania Minor, et^. Qhlurrav) 1W).'

» : on the antiijuities, Hicks, Or. hiscrip. of Oif Brit. Sfug. iii. p. 67 (T. • .Menadier, Qua condicionf Ephfgii UMi tint ; Ziuimermann, Kph. im erat. chrittl. Jahrh.; lAyy, in Revue dee Etude tirrt^qwe, 1S0&, p. 203 f., and subsequent artt., gives a careful and admirattle study of tlie constitution of the AsUn cities ; and Itamsay, Citxeeand Uinhtrpric of Phri/gia, ch. U., frivee a brief sketch of the same subject. Ou'hl's hpkfjtiaca \m not wholly antiquated, and Falkener's B. and the.

Trrnple of Diana contains some thin^ to reward study. WwhI's DiMooveriee at E. is almost purely a ftopular book (except for the appendix of inscriptions, most of which are republished by Hicks, I.e.) ; and the scientific account of his discoveries, whicFi doubtless he contemplated, was never published. The sketch of the history, esp. the early history, ^iven by E. Curtius in * Belthi^e z. Oes. u. Topo^. Kleinosiens' in Abhandi. Akad. Berlin. 1872(repub. in his Gttam. Alihandt. i.

233-286), is sinpi- Urly charminf; and instructive. Lightfoot's Discoveries illus- trating the Act of the Apostles in Conlemp. Rev. May 1878 (repub. aa app. to his Ettnayt on Supemat. Rel. p. 291 ff.), is QMful : Bee also Ramsay, CAurcA in Rom. Emp. pp. 112-166, and See Illustrations collected SxpotHor, March 1892, p. 223 ; St Paul lly Travftler, p. 271. t Tins Kpistle was written from Ephesus. t The Council was held in E. (not outside the city) U rf kyurnr^ izM^iteif, rn saAai/^us Ma^.

fi, as is stated in the Acta. «. Paul the Traveller, pp. 267-282. On the coinage, see Head's excellent Hist, of the Coinage o/ E. (which unfortunately end! with the Christian era, but may be completed from his ' CatA- log^e of the Gr. Coins in the Briu Mus." Ionia, pp. 70-116. On the {treat highway between E. and the East see 0. Hir^ch- feld, 'Kelainai-Apameia-lvibotos,' in Abhandi. Akad., Berlin, 1875 ; Ramsay, lliet. Geog. of As. Min. pp. a5-51. On the sup- posed ' tomb of St.

Luke, see Weber, Rylands, and Falkener, m Trans. Soc. Bit. Arch. viL 1881, and Siiiipsiin, ibid. vi. p. 323. W. AI. Ram.say.