WORD

BIBLICAL

COMMENTARY

VOLUME 42

Ephesians

ANDREW T. LINCOLN

General Editors

Bruce M. Metzger

David A. Hubbard†

Glenn W. Barker†

Old Testament Editor

John D. W. Watts

New Testament Editor

Ralph P. Martin

WORD BOOKS, PUBLISHER • DALLAS, TEXAS

Word Biblical Commentary

Ephesians

Copyright © 1990 by Word, Incorporated

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Main entry under title:

Word biblical commentary.

Includes bibliographies.

1. Bible—Commentaries—Collected works.

BS491.2.W67 220.7’7 81-71768

ISBN 0-8499-0241-X (vol. 42) AACR2

The author’s own translation of the text appears in italic type under the heading “Translation,” as well as in brief Scripture quotations in the body of the commentary, except where otherwise indicated.

For David and Paul

εἰς ἂνδρα τέλειον (Eph 4:13)

Table of Contents

Editorial Preface

Author’s Preface

Abbreviations

Main Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

1. Content/Structure/Genre/Style

2. Relation to Colossians and the Rest of the Pauline Corpus

3. Authorship/Pseudonymity/Canon

4. Setting and Purposes

5. The Thought of Ephesians

COMMENTARY

Prescript (1:1, 2)

Blessing of God for His Salvation in Christ (1:3–14)

Thanksgiving with Prayer for Believers’ Knowledge of God and Their Awareness of the Church’s Significance (1:15–23)

God’s Gracious Salvation as Resurrection and Exaltation with Christ (2:1–10)

The Gaining of the Gentiles’ Privileges of Participation in God’s New Temple Through Christ’s Reconciliation (2:11–22)

Paul as Minister of the Mystery to the Gentiles (3:1–13)

Further Prayer—for the Completeness of the Readers’ Experience of God—with Doxology (3:14–21)

The Church’s Calling to Maintenance of the Unity It Already Possesses (4:1–16)

Exhortation to Live According to the New Humanity Rather than the Old (4:17–24)

Practical Injunctions About the Old and New Life (4:25–5:2)

From Darkness to Light (5:3–14)

Wise and Spirit-Filled Living (5:15–20)

Household Relationships—Wives and Husbands (5:21–33)

Household Relationships—Children and Parents (6:1–4)

Household Relationships—Slaves and Masters (6:5–9)

Concluding Appeal to Stand Firm in the Battle against Spiritual Powers (6:10–20)

Postscript (6:21–24)

Indexes

Editorial Preface

The launching of the Word Biblical Commentary brings to fulfillment an enterprise of several years’ planning. The publishers and the members of the editorial board met in 1977 to explore the possibility of a new commentary on the books of the Bible that would incorporate several distinctive features. Prospective readers of these volumes are entitled to know what such features were intended to be; whether the aims of the commentary have been fully achieved time alone will tell.

First, we have tried to cast a wide net to include as contributors a number of scholars from around the world who not only share our aims, but are in the main engaged in the ministry of teaching ...