Ephesians from this perspective. A noteworthy beginning is A. T. Lincoln’s commentary on Ephesians, which attempts to observe the rhetorical purpose of the flow of thought throughout the letter. He concludes that the writer combines the epideictic and the deliberative rhetorical genres (Lincoln, xli-xlii). With its variety of literary forms, traditions and sources, Ephesians is far from the straightforward prose of a typical letter of antiquity (see Letters). What, then, is the best way to describe