Ephesians

S. M. Baugh

General Editor: H. Wayne House

New Testament Editors: W. Hall Harris III, Andrew W. Pitts

Ephesians: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary

Copyright 2015 S. M. Baugh. All rights reserved.

Published by Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

http://www.lexhampress.com

You may use brief quotations from this commentary in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. E-mail us at permissions@lexhampress.com.

English quotations from Ephesians are the author’s own translation.

Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations outside of Ephesians are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to my fathers and brothers of the Presbytery of Southern California of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, with thanks for the honor of ministering among you and with good hope that you will continue to stand fast in the Lord’s strong armor.

PREFACE

With all the commentaries on this brief book, what more can be said to justify a new offering? In one sense, I am happy to simply reaffirm much that has already been said in the superb commentaries, monographs, and articles related to Ephesians. My method when dealing with biblical texts is always to do my own work before consulting others, and it was with gratitude that some of my conclusions that cut against the grain of most interpreters were also supported by competent authorities (e.g., Eph 4:20–24). My purpose was not to come up with novel insights but to apply my particular areas of study and expertise to the interpretive task.

That being said, my particular interests and areas of study are fairly broad across the range of classics, ancient history (with particular interest in Ephesus), Greek grammar, and biblical theology. In the years working on this commentary I have also developed my interests in text criticism and Greek literary composition and rhetoric. I think these various interests will show up clearly in the course of the comments, which I hope will augment the current literature in helpful ways.

In light of what has just been said, the reader who wants a comprehensive review of all recent thought on Ephesians will no doubt be disappointed. I have tried to deal with most major works in the secondary literature and in the translations, but to do that comprehensively would require a commentary far larger than this one, and we already have some fine, recent examples of such large works. I have to confess that the reading and study of ancient books and of other primary sources like inscriptions and papyri has always been more of a priority for me throughout my academic career. I can only hope that this enthusiasm for primary sources and their study will make up for my many deficiencies by offering the reader a first-century perspective ...