Thoughts going in, Sunday July 15th

Eph 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment--to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory.

            This week we begin a Summer sermon series on St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians. This letter is not without some scholarly debate surrounding it. Those who have made the study of language and rhetoric their expertise have noted that the 'style' of this letter is markedly different from others written by St. Paul. This has caused some to doubt his authorship. Others point out that within the text the author mentions that he has "heard of their faith," yet we know from the book of Acts that Paul had done more than "hear" of their faith--he witnessed it first hand on several occasions. Finally, some ancient manuscripts don't even include the word "Ephesus" in the opening lines--leaving the question wide open as to the addressees of the letter.

            So what should we make of all of this? First, it is important to remember how a letter would've been composed in these days. You or I sit down to our keyboard, or if we must, to pen and paper, and we WRITE a letter. But 2,000yrs ago writing was a highly skilled trade that few people possessed. Oh, sure, the average person could sign their name, or write out a receipt in the marketplace, but that's a far cry from COMPOSING a lengthy document. So, WHOEVER "wrote" this letter must be thought of as a scribe following DICTATION. This brings to mind another matter. What if the person dictating the letter spoke in one language, say, his mother tongue, while the scribe translated on the fly into the common Greek of the day? This, too, is not unheard of. Finally, there may even have been more than one scribe receiving the dictation. Some think that the absence of an 'addressee' in some ancient manuscripts means that this letter was originally sent not to the CHURCH at Ephesus, but rather, the CHURCHES of Ephesus and the surrounding environs.

            Back to the authorship question... when one factors in scribal presence and the likelihood that different scribes may have been used at different times, combined with the likelihood that this letter was meant for more people than the core group Paul had met personally during his missionary journeys in the book of Acts, the "problem" of authorship sorts itself out and there's really nothing preventing us from accepting Paul as the letter's author.

            The "group" he's addressing is a mixed group consisting of both Jewish and Gentile believers. He will have much to say on this throughout the letter, and his own Jewish background is woven in throughout. This is nowhere more evident than the opening of this Sunday's text: Praise be to God... This long prayer/doxology/hymn has a distinctive "synagogue" ring to it, yet it would be "synagogue-rebooted" from the standpoint that the doxology is TRINITARIAN. Paul's "b'rakha" (a Jewish/synagogue ceremonial benediction) includes praise to God as Father who has chosen us; praise to God as Son who has redeemed us; and praise to God as Spirit who has marked/sealed us for eternity. Those who are familiar with Luther's explanation of the Creed in the Small Catechism may think this all sounds a little bit familiar.

            There are a lot of things we could focus in on this week, but given that this is part one of a whole series, perhaps the best thing to do is look at the big picture. The "A-Team's" Hannibal was fond of saying "I love it when a plan comes together." Evidently, so does St. Paul. As we prepare to spend some weeks together in Ephesians, we're going to be struck by God's magnificent plan, His "Blueprint for the Church."

cheers,

TM