From: Daniel J Baker (danielbaker2@juno.com)
Date: Sat Mar 14 1998 - 09:43:41 EST
Dear listeners,
Having just finished a study of Ephesians (if we are ever really finished
with a book of the NT!), I have a thought regarding chapter 3.
Typically, 3:1-13 is seen as a type of digression with 3:14 signalling
the reestablishment of the main argument. It is my thought, however,
that the whole of chapter 3 is a digression. This seems so for the
following reasons (though I realize that John Stott and Andrew Lincoln as
well as Marcus Barth in their commentaries do not offer this option):
1) While both 3:1 and 3:14 begin with TOUTOU XAPIV, 4:1 uses the
phrase, hO DESMIOS EN KURIO, extremely similar to 3:1's, hO DESMIOS TOU
CHRISTOU IESOU. My supposition is that Paul mentioned his being a
prisoner of the Lord and then (humanly speaking) digressed to speak on
his ministry. Taking up again his main argument, he began where he left
off, speaking of himself as a prisoner and then continuing the
exhortation to walk worthy of their calling.
2) My other primary reason is that the argument does not flow well
proceeding from 2:22 to 3:14. Lincoln's guess that it is all part of the
extended introduction is okay. However, it seems to flow very naturally
from 2:22 to 4:1ff. Then, Paul's thought establishes the church of
Christ and then speaks of the lifestyle of this church.
Any thoughts?
Adios amigos,
_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:39:10 EDT