Dear Ephesians Series

It was nearly 10 years later when Paul wrote to his beloved friends in Ephesus. Paul was a prisoner in Rome (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1; 6:20), and he wanted to share with these believers the great truths the Lord had taught him about Christ and the church.

So, the letter was written from Rome about the year A.D. 62. Though Paul was on trial for his life, he was concerned about the spiritual needs of the churches he had founded. As an apostle, one sent with a commission, he had an obligation to teach them the Word of God and to seek to build them up in the faith (Ephesians 4:11-12).

It is worth remembering who and what Paul was. He was an amazingly influential Christian, but he was often persecuted in the world and demeaned and despised within the church. In his own eyes he was “the very least of all the saints” (3:8). Ancient literature provides us with only one physical description of Paul. It is found in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla (originally composed probably in the second century): He was “a man little of stature, thin haired upon the head, crooked in the legs, of good state of body, with eyebrows joining, and nose somewhat hooked.” There was another aspect to him which the same document mentions: “Sometimes he appeared like a man, and sometimes he had the face of an angel.” The language obviously echoes the description of the martyr Stephen (Acts 6:15), but in so doing gives an indication of how venerated Paul’s ministry continued to be. He was a small man who became great.

It was “by the will of God” that Paul was an apostle of Christ Jesus. The Greek word apostolos means “a sent one.” It was sometimes used in classical literature for a naval expedition, the commander of which might also be known as an apostolos. The authority of an apostle to speak and act was therefore dependent on the nature of the authority of his sender. That is why it is important to notice that the word is used in more than one way in the New Testament.

• It is used of Jesus Himself (Hebrews 3:1) as the Son whom God sent into the world (John 3:17).

• In the New Testament it is primarily used in reference to “the 12” whom Jesus called and trained to be part of the foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:20). These men had a special and direct commission from Christ and they went forth endued with His power and clothed with His authority. In affirming his apostleship, therefore, Paul is actually asserting his right to address his readers, and in essence is declaring that the teaching which he set forth is invested with divine authority.

• It is sometimes used of believers commissioned by their congregation for special service. In this sense, “apostle” and “missionary” mean basically the same. The former term is derived from the Greek, the latter from the Latin, verbs “to sin.” Barnabas and Saul were both apostles in this sense (Acts 14:14)—sent out by the church at Antioch.

But Paul was conscious that he was also, and more fundamentally, an apostle not only of Antioch but of Christ Jesus. He had received a direct commission from the Lord Jesus himself, just as surely as had Peter or James or John. He was emphatic about this, especially when his calling was demeaned and under attack, as it was in the churches in Corinth and Galatia (see 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:3-10; 2 Corinthians 11-12; Galatians 1:11). This explains why his letters carry such a weighty sense of his own authority.