Manor College Certification Program
A Reflection on the Letter to the Ephesians
The relationship of Ephesians to the other letters of Paul
The letter to the Ephesians is a difficult letter to present in just a short time because it is so amazingly rich and deep; it is a veritable rhapsody on the Church as the Body of Christ, on its function and purpose, and on our part in it.
It is very close in style and thought to the letter to the Colossians. In fact, in chapter 3 of Ephesians Paul says he wrote a brief letter earlier, and he might be referring to that letter to the Colossians. If Paul wrote it himself—and many scholars doubt it—it probably came near the end of his ministry, perhaps while he was under house arrest in Rome, around 63AD, because it is so much richer and deeper than his earlier letters. Perhaps Paul, with much more time on his hands in jail and freed from his pastoral and missionary work, took the time to repeat his doctrine but from a different angle and with greater insights, or perhaps someone who knew Paul’s teaching saw its implications and spelled them out in this letter. In any event, the letter is a theological and mystical masterpiece.
The Supremacy of Christ
Both the letter to the Colossians and to the Ephesians address a new problem: the growth of what we would call New Age ideas about cosmic forces and celestial powers, ideas that chipped away at the supremacy of Christ. What stands out in this letter is Paul’s view of the Church as a celestial entity upon the earth, an extension of Christ’s own incarnation.
Christ the Sun, incarnated again in his Church
To better understand the letter, we need to remember something from the first pages of the Bible: God pushed back the darkness in creating light, but both were good in his sight. Yet it would not be until the fourth day that God would create the sun to govern the day and the moon to govern the night.
In an opening statement, the letter says God had planned for us to be blessed in Christ from the very beginning of time, and—in due time—to gather all things together in Christ, to complete, or fulfill them, in him. That makes the Church as much a part of God’s creation and plan as the sun and the moon; in other words, the Church is completely natural in the sense that God planned it from the very beginning to be a vital part of the real world. It was intended from before time as an integral part of the world we see around us. The Church is the “fourth day agent” for people. The Church was intended as the agent to “govern people” as the sun governs the day and the moon the night. It provides structure to our lives, allowing them to become spiritually fruitful. The letter says, “We are God’s work, created in union with Christ Jesus for good works, which were planned in advance for us to walk in.” [Eph 2;10] Thus we have a purpose and a mission.
But we are radically different: we create ourselves
Now there is a marvelous statement at verse 13 of the first chapter that says, “By your decision to trust God you were sealed by the Holy Spirit and you received a down-payment on what you will inherit—this was to pay the bail to set free that which belonged to God.” We might tweak the language a little to say, By your commitment to God you were given the Holy Spirit as an advance on your pay. This advance enabled you to post your bond to be released from the terrible things to which you had become enslaved by blindly following biological instincts and overlooking the spiritual side of your nature.
But our self-creation is not simply personal and individualistic
In chapter two, at verse 21, the letter uses a different image of the Church, that of a building, a building that is alive, and says, “In union with him (Christ), the whole building—cleverly fitted together—is growing into a holy temple for/in the Lord. You, too, are being incorporated into that house of God in the Spirit.” Once God gets us going we exercise a God-like autonomy in completing our creation. We make ourselves what we want to be: an exciting, but also dangerous, possibility. As the letter puts it, “In his wisdom and creativity, God revealed to us the sacred secret (mysterion) of his will;” that is, he led us to understand the purpose and the dynamics of a relationship with him. And as Jesus summed it up the night before he died, that purpose is to be joined—like elements in a building—one to another in a joint mission.
God set an example for us, a model to copy
By connecting with us, and joining himself to us through Christ and the Spirit, God works with us in our self-creation. In verse 22 of the opening chapter it says, “He put all things under his (Christ’s) feet, and made him the head of all things for the Church, which is his body; it is the fullness of the One who is filling all things.” The Church is supposed to be the fullness of Christ, Christ whom God sent among us to secure blessings for all those who preserve that relationship. It means that the treasures of blessings the Church administers is limitless. But this community is also the sun that shines for all other people, and provides their opportunity to share in these limitless blessings. To belong to the Church is not something just for us as individuals; my membership in the Church is something for others.
People are missionaries to the angels
But there is something even more astounding in this letter: mere human beings are going to preach to the angels and teach and instruct heavenly beings. Our role is not simply to other people, our calling is to enlighten the angels. At verse 9 in chapter 3 we read, “Now people shall see how this holy mystery—a mystery hidden in God, who created all things, from before time— (how this holy mystery) is deployed so that the manifold wisdom of God, in accord with the plan that he formulated in view of Christ Jesus, (so the manifold wisdom of God) would be made known to celestial leaders and authorities by the Church.”
With these few words the letter broadens its scope from the world to the cosmos.
In Jeremiah the prophet God says, “I have plans for you.” How many of us realize, and appreciate, that God’s plan for us as individuals and as his Church, includes teaching the angels? It is like a great circle: from heavenly realms the angels come, and the children of earth—in turn—bring them a blessing. Our fate, our destiny, is far more exalted that we dare imagine, but God—in his Holy Word—has told us of it, nonetheless. God stands poised to crown us with greatness. Do we want it?