"IN CHRIST" IN EPHESIANS

One of the main themes in Paul's writings, and especially in his Epistle to the Ephesians is the concept of being “in Christ,” also expressed by equivalent terminology. But before investigating it in any further detail, it is perhaps best if I start with a broad overview of how that letter is organized, at least according to the reasoning I presented in an earlier posting (see “Ephesians: Introduction to the Literary Structure”).

                                                 Figure 1: Literary Structure of Ephesians

I. Introduction (1:1-2)

II. Position with God through Christ (1:3-14)

III. Power in Christ (1:15-23)

IV. Gentiles’ Past and Present Position Contrasted (2:1-22)

V. The Mystery of Christ: Position and Power (3:1-21)

IV'. Gentiles’ Past and Present Behavior Contrasted (4:1-5:20)

II'. Position with Others through Christ (5:21-6:9)

III'. Power in Christ (6:10-20)

I'. Conclusion (6:21-24)

Statistics involving the occurrence of these key phrases are somewhat helpful at this point. However, a caveat is in order first: (1) The numbers below will vary according to which English translation you look at (Those below are based on the fairly literal NRSV translation), and (2) There is always some ambiguity as to the best Greek text, especially when considering such a large chunk of writing as this whole epistle. Fortunately, there are textual and translation notes given to the text in any good study Bible to indicate when there may be some question as to how to translate a passage. As examples of these two possibilities, consider the following notes found in the NRSV:

        1:4 – The Greek reads “in him.”

        2:5 – Other manuscripts read “in Christ” instead of “in him.”

        2:16 – “through it” may be alternately translated as “in him.”

        2:22 – “spiritually” in the literal Greek is “in the Spirit.”

        3:12 – “faith in him” may also be translated as “faith of him.”

        6:1 – Other manuscripts lack ”in the Lord.”

Thus, in the statistics below, I have gone with the Greek text and put ranges in those cases where a reading may be in doubt.

                                Figure 2: Objects of the “in X.” Constructions in Ephesians

Section  Christ Jesus Christ  him  Lord  Christ Jesus our Lord  Lord Jesus (Christ)   Jesus/Son

I                  1          0             0         0                  0                                  0                          0

II                0          4-5          3-5      0                  0                                  0                           0

III              0           1             0         0                  0                                  1                           0

IV             4           0              2        1                  0                                   0                           1

V              0-1       0              0-1   0-1                 1                                   0                           0

IV'             0          2              1        1                  0                                   1                           1

II'              0          0               0     1-2                 0                                   0                           0

III'            0          0               0        1                  0                                   0                           0

I'               0          0               0       1                   0                                   0                           0

About the only significant fact I can glean from these numbers is that by far the fullest expression of Christ in the letter, “Christ Jesus our Lord,” appears in only one place (Ephesians 3:11), which happens to be the center of the center section of the epistle according to the structure proposed in Figure 1.

The other two Persons of the Trinity also appear in structurally prominent spots in Ephesians as the objects of this sort of prepositional phrase. Thus, “in God” is seen in 3:9 (the center of the letter), and “in the Spirit” in 6:18 (at its end).

Perhaps even more important to consider is the larger context in which all these related phrases occur. In other words – What results from being in Christ or what is required to be in Christ?

                                            Figure 3: Contexts of the “in X” Sayings

Section                            Contexts

I                                      are faithful

II                                     has blessed us, chose us, we have redemption, gather, obtained inheritance, set                                         our hope upon, believed in, sealed

III                                   your faith, power for us

IV                                  seated with him, grace toward us, created for good works, brought near, access                                       to, built into a temple

V                                  sharers in the promise, see the mystery of God's plan, his eternal purpose, faith                                         in him, strengthened with power, to him be the glory

IV'                                a prisoner, we must grow up, truth is in, give thanks

II'                                 obey your parents

III'                                be strong, pray

I'                                   faithful minister

There are, generally speaking, three types of contexts associated with these “in X” statements. The majority relate to what blessings God in His grace has bestowed on believers. But also included are both the prior (in italics) and subsequent expected (in bold) actions on our part. Three points stand out by consideration of Figure 3.

In the first place, you can clearly see the typical progression found in almost all of Paul's correspondence. It starts out by showing the mysterious working together of our faith with God's grace, but then in the second half of the letter Paul moves on to discussing our proper response to God's grace in our actions.

Secondly, the importance of our faith in, and faithfulness to, God in Christ is stressed in that this fact appears in the opening and closing sections of the letter as well as in the central section.

Thirdly, also symmetrically located are words of power given to the believer. These can be seen in sections III, III' and the central section V.

These last two observations help to confirm the validity of Figure 1 as a useful model for studying this letter.