The Letter to the Ephesians (New International Commentary on the New Testament)
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
The letter to the Ephesians provokes interpretive questions of authorship, audience, date, occasion, and purpose of writing. Interacting critically with this intense debate, Lynn Cohick provides an exegetically astute analysis of the six chapters of Ephesians. Cohick offers an insightful account of the epistle’s theology and soteriology as she attends to the letter’s expansive prose and lofty vision of God’s redemption.
Cohick investigates the complex relationship between Jews and gentiles within the text and in the broader cultural context as she analyzes the epistle’s description of the Church and its appeals for discipleship. Her extensive knowledge of the social realities of women and families in the ancient world is evident throughout. Cohick’s historically sensitive and theologically rich commentary will resource a new generation of scholars, pastors, and lay leaders.
- Contains verse-by-verse commentary
- Analyzes the epistle’s description of the Church and its appeals for discipleship
- Investigates the complex relationship between Jews and gentiles
- Introduction
- Authorship
- Recipients
- Occasion for Writing Ephesians
- Purpose of Ephesians
- First-Century Ephesus
- Date and Provenance of Letter
- Structure of Ephesians
- Outline of the Commentary
- Theology
- The New Perspective on Paul and Ephesians
- Text and Commentary
- Paul’s Opening Greeting (1:1–2)
- Theological Explication of the Gospel (1:3–3:21)
- Exhortation to Holy Living (4:1–6:20)
- Final Greetings (6:21–24)
Top Highlights
“Lee-Barnewall concludes that a common way the body/head analogy worked was to stress the head as ‘primary leader and source of provision for the body.’516 The expectation would be that the body sacrifices itself for the head—a conclusion directly at odds with the gospel message, as we have seen already in Ephesians. Christ the head of the church in love laid down his life for his beloved (5:2). This reversal is a consistent motif within the gospel story, as it reflects the actions of the Lord who humbled himself to die on a cross and who bids his followers do likewise (Matt 16:24–26).” (Page 358)
“This unit is a single sentence in Greek. With 202 words, it is the second longest sentence in the New Testament, behind Col 1:9–20, which includes 218 terms.” (Page 84)
“Jewish motif that Israel is God’s son to encourage believers that God’s plan in Christ connects with God’s pattern of establishing his people. Implicit in this model of adoption is the reality that a believer is not simply ‘saved,’ but is also a member of God’s family. In Paul’s day, any man or woman who was persuaded of a particular philosophy or religious claim expected at the same time to follow that group’s way of life; they became a member of a community. Identification with a group included behavioral commitments, and we find Paul explaining these in the latter three chapters of the epistle.” (Pages 98–99)
“The letter can be subdivided into two halves, the first focused on praising God for his glorious provision of salvation, and the second attending to the transformation of believers to live a life consistent with their holy God.” (Page 52)
Lynn H. Cohick is provost/dean and professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary. Her other books include Christian Women in the Patristic World, Women in the World of the Earliest Christians, and a commentary on Philippians in the Story of God Bible Commentary series.
Reviews
1 rating
Kelley Mathews
1/25/2023
Dr. Cohick's expertise in 1st–3rd-century Roman culture enables her to set the words of Paul to the church in Ephesus firmly in its historical context. By doing so, she enlightens readers to issues that original hearers of Paul's letter would have been facing, explaining cultural and familial structures in place that impact how we understand Paul's words today. Her section on Chapter 5 with the household codes is exceptional.