Reference no: EM133363406

Introduction

Most likely written under house arrest in Rome, Paul wrote many letters to churches during his imprisonment. Though Paul was originally a persecutor of Christians, putting many in prison or death prior to his encounter with the risen Lord, his meeting with Jesus on the journey to Damascus (Acts 9:3-7) changed him for life and allowed the letters that he wrote to reach the hearts of millions of people all over the world for nearly 2000 years. One of those letters is the book of Ephesians. The difference between the book of Ephesians and the other books Paul wrote in the Bible is Ephesians appears to be a "rather general and impersonal"[1] letter, possibly written to "all Christians in Asia Minor, with Ephesus being the primary or first recipient"[2].

Paul wrote the book of Ephesians from prison, a place of pain and suffering. However, despite his discomforts Paul's love for God strengthened and encouraged him to write. The book of Ephesians was a letter sent to all Christians, via Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21), to encourage and "strengthen them in the doctrine of the truth that they had already received"[3]. In the letter, Paul wrote a key passage on spiritual gifts and their use for unifying the body of believers in their knowledge of Jesus so the Church would mature and grow in faith and truth of God's Word, Ephesians 4:7-16. The paper will delve into the bigger ideas and significance of Ephesians 4:7-16 and reveal that these verses are the key to a healthy Church, maturity of each individual believer, and show how God uses the works of the Church to further His Kingdom.

Historical Context

The book of Ephesians was likely authored sometime between A.D. 60 and A.D. 62, during Paul's house arrest in Rome.[4] In Acts 28:16 we read that "Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him."[5] At this time, Paul was not considered a danger to anyone and the Roman Emperor had not yet painted Christians as enemies of Rome. Nero was the Roman Emperor during this time, coming to power in A.D. 54 at the age of sixteen. Due to his age, he relied heavily on others to help him rule, especially his mother, Agrippina the Younger, the daughter of Germanicus.[6] Suetonius, in a Princeton University Press writing, titled How to be a Bad Emperor, "writes that Nero left to her [Agrippina] the management of all business, public and private. He even gave out as the watchword for the Praetorian Guards, 'the Best of Mothers'."[7] Suetonius goes on to state that relations between Nero and Agrippina grew tense as Nero's passions for activities "traditionally deemed unsuitable for Roman aristocrats" grew, leading to Nero driving Agrippina from the palace and later killing her.[8]

Possibly due to the turmoil in Rome, under the emperor Nero, or due to Paul's crime not being a priority, he lived under house arrest for two years. This enabled Paul to spend his time preaching about God's Kingdom and the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 28:31). During his two year imprisonment he wrote his epistle to the Galatians, then his second epistle to Timothy, then those to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and to Philemon, in which he mentions several things particularly concerning his imprisonment."[9]

Cultural Context

The book of Ephesians was first passed to the church at Ephesus, a commercial center in western Asia Minor, now known as Turkey. Three years prior to the book of Ephesians, Paul had established the city of Ephesus as a "center for evangelism"[10]. Over those three years the Ephesian church thrived. However, Acts 19 recounts how beginning a church in Ephesus did not come easy for Paul. Ephesus was a city that boasted of its pagan temple devoted to the Greek goddess Artemis. The city thrived off their manufactured idols, selling them to the numerous people who flocked to worship Artemis at the temple. The Gospel message threatened the livelihood of the Ephesians and put them at odds with Paul and the church. Matthew Henry writes in his commentary on Acts, "such great care did idolaters take for the keeping up of the worship of gods made with hands, while the worship of the true and living God is neglected."[11]

Literary Context

The book of Ephesians is a meticulously thought-out authoritative epistle to the church, though some may view it as a personal letter. In his Exegetical Commentary on Ephesians, Harold Hoehner states that "Deissmann, an early scholar in the discussion, made a distinction between 'epistles' (i.e., artistic literary works written for public interaction ...) and 'letters' (i.e., un-literary, private, occasional communication, much like our telephone calls today)."[12] Hoehner continues, stating that most of Paul's writings "fall into the latter category", but may still be "viewed as private or personal letters".[13] However, one other literary contextual question many scholars continue to debate concerning some New Testament writing, such as Ephesians, is their authorship. Either way, the body of Ephesians can be broken into three parts, instruction (1:3- 3:21), paraenesis (4:1- 6:20), and commendation (6:21- 22).[14] The primary focus of this paper being on a small portion of the paraenesis section of Ephesians.