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"Pound for pound Ephesians may well be the most influential document ever written. Within the history of Christianity, only the Psalms, the Gospel of John, and Romans have been so instrumental in shaping the life and thought of Christians, but all three of these works are much longer than the few pages of this letter. Ephesians has justly been described as 'the switzerland of the New Testament,' 'The crown and climax of Pauline theology,' and 'one of the divinest compositions of man.' The explanation of the Gospel and the life with Christ provided here is powerful and direct. If read receptively it is a bombshell."^[1]

Ephesians is a powerful book that clarifies the Gospel and explains--more clearly than almost anywhere in scripture--what it means to live as a saved person, or in Paul's terminology, "in Christ."

Who Was Ephesians Written to?

When we read the letters of Paul a basic understanding of his audience generally provides useful assistance in interpreting his thoughts, so we generally try to learn what we can about the city he was writing to, the condition of the church in that city and any cultural issues that might help us more clearly understand the letter. But in the case of Ephesians, this is of no help to us. The reason for this is simply that the Letter to the Ephesians was clearly not written to the church at Ephesus. It might have been written to them in general, but it can't have been written to them in particular. Here's what we know for certain:

• The letter was clearly written to Gentiles. (2:11)
• The letter was written to people who Paul did not know personally and had no direct emotional attachment to. This is the strongest argument against the letter being sent to Ephesus. The letter addresses people Paul doesn't know well. (See 1:15, "...I have heard of your faith..." and 3:2 "...assuming that you have heard of the...") But we know from Acts that Paul spent quite a bit of time in Ephesus (2-3 years) and was emotionally attached to the believers there. (Acts 18:19-21; 19:1-41; 20:17-38 ). So the audience of this letter is either a church Paul has never visited (not Ephesus) or a general audience of Christians in many churches.
• Finally, the strongest early manuscripts of this letter do not include the word "Ephesus" in the greeting line (1:1) They all read, "Paul, to the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus." Some scholars suggest that Ephesians was intended to be a circular letter to be read in a variety of churches, laying out a complete theology instead of addressing a specific issue like so many of his other letters.

So, this statement from the NIV Application Commentary, summarizes what seems to be the best remaining option: "We may safely assume that the letter was a general letter to Gentile believers in south-western Asia Minor and that it became identified with Ephesus as the most important city between Rome and Antioch." ^[2]

So, all that goes to say that discussing the cultural situation in Ephesus really won't help us in understanding the book any better. But, the content of the book does seem to support the idea that it was written to a broad base of believers, perhaps as a summary of Paul's theology of salvation and the church.

Who Was Ephesians Written By?

All of that brings us to a very important question that some have put forward. There are enough differences between Ephesians and the rest of Paul's letters that some scholars have suggested that Ephesians was in fact not written by Paul at all, but instead by a disciple of Paul's shortly after Paul's death. This position is held by many contemporary scholars, but there is strong enough evidence to support the traditional view--Paul wrote it himself while imprisoned in Rome shortly before his death.

The text itself claims to be written by Paul and while he was in prison. The challenges to this are based on the fact that Ephesians is significantly different from the rest of Paul's letters in vocabulary, tone and style. But this isn't an overwhelming obstacle. Ephesians was written toward the end of Paul's life while in prison. At this point he has had time to mature and develop a new vocalulary--especially since Ephesians covers theological ground that his other letters only touch superficially. He would have needed new words. Second, his other letters were written "on the road" while Paul was travelling and were directed to specific situations. Ephesians was written while Paul was in Prison and thus had time to craft his letter. Also, early writers in the church like Polycarp, Ignatius and Clement of Rome credit the letter to Paul and their credit comes early in the 2nd century, very close to when the letter was originally written and circulated.

Again, the traditional view is entirely reasonable--especially given that there is no positive evidence of another author. H. J. Cadbury summarized the situation well: "Which is more likely--that an imitator of Paul in the first century composed a writing ninety or ninety-five percent in accordance with Paul's style or that Paul himself wrote a letter diverging five or ten percent from his usual style?" ^[3]

When was Ephesians Written?

We know from the text that the letter was written while Paul was in prison. There are only two places Paul was imprisoned that are mentioned by name in scripture--Rome and Ceaserea. It is by far the most likely that this letter was written during Paul's two-year house arrest in Rome. (Acts 28:30) Colossians was written at the same time, and quite possibly Philemon as well. The dating of this letter is pretty straight forward. It cannot have been written any later than 96 AD since Clement of Rome quotes Ephesians in his letter to the Corinthians. If Paul wrote it while imprisoned in Rome, then it was written between AD 62 and 64.^[4]

Why was this letter sent?

Most of Paul's letters were written to a specific church to address a specific problem, which gives us great context to more easily interpret them. But this is not the case with Ephesians. We're not sure who the letter is written to and there is no clear issue at stake in the text itself. If we take the position that Ephesians was meant to be a encyclical--a letter written in general terms to be taken around to many different churches--then it seems reasonable to assume Paul was speaking to a higher purpose than helping some little church resolve some specific issue.

The content of the text, it seems to me, seems to indicate that this was an opportunity for Paul to more clearly define the identity of the early church, first theologically and then practically. He wanted to summarize for the church the practical meaning of their salvation and the impact this new relationship--which he defined as "in Christ"--could have in their lives and thus their world.

So What?

What does all this mean to us today? It suggests that Ephesians is a book that applies directly to thesituation we're in. There is no specific issue that we need to tackle to understand the book. It is a meditation on our identity in Christ and a definition of what that life "in Christ" can look like should we choose to live out our identity. In many ways Ephesians is a practical explanation of the effects of salvation in our life (and not just our eternity.) For this reason, Ephesians is relevant and immediate to every Christian everywhere. That means you!