While Bible commentaries and dictionaries are the most utilized resources for most serious Bible readers (see Part 1), there is a surprisingly diverse number of additional aids which are often overlooked.
Study Bibles
These may seem obvious to some, but many people in choosing a Bible to purchase simply make their choice based on the translation with which they are most familiar. I would suggest that one also keep in mind the special features present in a good study Bible. These may include any or all of the following: short commentaries on difficult passages, cross-references to other Bible passages, brief introductions to each book, footnotes with alternative readings for those verses in which the original language may be difficult to understand or in which various manuscripts contain significant variations, Bible atlases, maps accompanying the text, short subject indices, etc. Before buying one, you would be well-served to look at it in person or carefully study the features of each possibility on line.
In general, the theological tenor of the comments accompanying the text will match up with the translation in question with, for example, The Jerusalem Bible is geared more toward a Roman Catholic audience, editions of NRSV being somewhat on the liberal side, ESV being decidedly evangelical in tone, and editions of loose paraphrases such as TEV or The Message generally having little or nothing in the way of study aids.
Regarding Ephesians specifically, one will find that NEB, for example, is very good at including footnotes indicating alternative translations (A few samples are given below), but contains no additional study aids.
Verse Translation Alternative Translation
2:20 foundation stone keystone
2:21 the whole building every structure
3:15 every family his whole family
3:19 the fullness of God himself the fullness which God requires
In contrast to the NEB, The New Oxford Annotated Bible-NRSV contains a general introduction to each grouping of books (Pentateuch, Wisdom and Poetry, Gospels, etc.); essays on the development of the canon of the Bible, textual criticism, translation issues, various schools of interpretation, biblical geography, and cultural backgrounds; timelines; chronological table of ancient rulers; guide to weights and measures; parallel passages; and a set of color maps of the Holy Land over time. In addition, there is an approximately one-page introduction to each individual book, listing of textual variations and alternative translations on each page along with detailed notes regarding issues that might need special clarification.
One sample page of NRSV Study Bible contains the following footnotes concerning Ephesians 4-5:
4:22-24 “The old lifestyle, like worn-out clothing must be replaced by a new lifestyle guided by one's knowledge of Christ.”
4:25 “See Zech 8.16.”
4:26-27 “Indulged anger (see Ps 4.4) is an opportunity for demonic influence (cf. v. 31).”
4:30 “Seal, see 1.13”
4:32-5:2 “Christians must imitate God's (see Mt 5.48) and Christ's forgiveness and self-sacrificial actions. Fragrant offering, see Ex 29.18; Ezek 20.14; cf. Phil 4.18.”
5:3-5 “Sexual sins are the primary focus in these verses.”
5:8 “Darkness/light, apocalyptic imagery for the domains of the hostile spiritual powers and of God and Christ.”
Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament
I have found this to be a very useful reference book to illustrate how the NT authors utilized ideas and imagery from the OT in their writings. The chapter on Ephesians by Thielman is 20 pages long and contains detailed comments on eight extended passages by Paul which drew on the OT. For example, Ephesians 4:7-11 draws heavily on Psalm 68:18, and Thielman breaks up his comments on this correspondence into the following sub-sections: “Paul's Quotation in NT Context,” “Psalm 68:18 in OT Context,” “Psalm 68:18 in Jewish Interpretations,” “Paul's text,” “Paul's Use of Psalm 68:18,” and “The Theological Implications of Paul's Use of Psalm 68:18.” Thus, in a way, this chapter becomes not only a commentary on Ephesians 4, but also a commentary on Psalm 18, a textual commentary, and a theological essay as well.
Ephesians within the NT Canon
This is a whole subject in itself since it deals with questions of authorship, dating, and early Christian history. Brevard Childs has written a book on this subject (The New Testament as Canon: An Introduction) as well as a matching volume on the Old Testament. He devotes 13 pages to the Epistle to the Ephesians, divided into sub-sections dealing with subjects such as the letter's addressee, the problem of authorship, the purpose of the letter, and its canonical shape.
His conclusion is as follows: “Up to this point in the analysis we have described the epistle to the Ephesians in terms of indirect Pauline authorship. In fact, the major exegetical problems do not turn on deciding the question of authorship in a strictly historical sense. Rather, the central problem lies in evaluating the role and the validity of this extended witness of the apostle Paul which the canonical process has received, nourished, and shaped. It is significant to observe that the church did not canonize the process [of authorship] as normative, but rather the interpreted text. The role of canon does not consist in stifling the church's continued search in understanding the truth of the gospel, but rather it stakes out the arena in which the church confesses the Word of God has been and will be heard by the community of faith.”
Reading between the lines, it is fairly obvious that Childs is by no means a conservative Christian, and his somewhat skeptical attitude colors the way he approaches his subject. Nevertheless, he does impart some useful information as long as one does not accept all that he has to say on this subject without seriously examining it first.
Specialized Study Books
Stott's The Cross of Christ is one such example. The index to this book cites over forty pages which comment on the relation of Ephesians to that specific subject. Taking one random example, he writes, “Life in a Christian home, which should in any case be characterized by natural human love, should be further enriched by supernatural divine love, that is, the love of the cross. It should mark all Christian family relationships, between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters. For we are to 'submit to one another out of reverence for Christ' (Eph. 5:21), the Christ whose humble and submissive love led him to the cross. Yet it is specially husbands who are singled out...(vv. 25-27). This Ephesians passage is commonly regarded as being very hard on wives, because they are to recognize the 'headship' God has given to their husbands. But it is arguable that the quality of self-giving love required of husbands is even more demanding....This is a Calvary love. It is both self-sacrificial (he 'gave himself up for her', v. 25) and constructive ('to make her holy' and resplendent, growing into her full potential, vv. 26-27). It is also caring and protective...(vv. 28-29). Christian homes in general, and Christian marriages in particular, would be more stable and more satisfying if they were marked by the cross.”
One other random example of a specialized study is a book by Beale and Gladd titled Hidden But Now Revealed. They expend over 50 pages just discussing the ins and outs of the subject of “Mystery” as it appears in Ephesians.
You would probably be surprised to see how many other Christian books dealing with an individual subject such as above have at least one reference to Ephesians.
Hermeneutics
This subject deals with general principles to keep in mind while attempting to interpret passages in the Bible. As such, books on this subject are likely to quote from Ephesians, or other parts of Scripture, to use as typical illustrations. One such trustworthy source for the general reader is Fee and Stuart's How to Read the Bible for All its Worth. It contains references to Ephesians scattered throughout, which can be be easily located through the index. Two such examples are quoted below:
“David, who expresses in the Psalms God's blessing in the strongest terms, lived a life that was filled with almost constant tragedy and disappointments; as 1 and 2 Samuel describe. Yet he praises and thanks God enthusiastically at every turn, even in laments, just as Paul advises us to do even in the midst of hard times (Eph. 1:16; 5:20).”
“Orthodoxy is correct belief. Orthopraxy is correct action. Through the prophets God calls the people of ancient Israel and Judah to a balance of right belief and action. This, of course, remains the very balance that the New Covenant requires as well (cf. James 1:27; 2:18; Eph 2:8-10).”
The Hermeneutical Spiral by Osborne is another useful resource. In his chapter of “Syntax” the author discusses in detail (6 pages) Ephesians 3:16-19, which he breaks down into “Prayer for power” (vv 16-17a), “Prayer for insight” (vv 17b-19a), and “Prayer for fullness” (v 19b).
Hermeneutical Mistakes
The
negative aspects of prior writers attempting to interpret biblical
passages is also the subject of at least two prominent books. The
first is Exegetical
Fallacies by D.A.
Carson. He spends six pages discussing such errors in Ephesians
alone. At the conclusion of his book he states, “This discussion
has necessarily treated fallacies piecemeal; but in the actual work
of exegesis, some passages by their sheer complexity stir up a
multiplicity of fallacies at the same time – in the same way that
the law stirs up sin. I think of passages such as Psalm 110; Isaiah
52:13-53:12; Matthew 16:13-23; Ephesians
5:21-30; and Revelation
20:1-6.” Therefore in such passages, one must be especially careful
in trying to interpret them.
The second book on this subject of
which I am aware is Abusing
Scripture by Brauch. The
index to this book contains approximately one hundred references to
pages discussing passages in Ephesians. I will only cite one
example. For 6 pages he discusses the subject of submission and how
it has been often misunderstood, with special attention to Paul's
comments in Ephesians 5:22-24. I won't repeat is detailed analysis
here, but only quote his concluding remarks:
“The traditional Christian view regarding women has thus been nurtured for centuries by understandings and interpretations of words that are, at best, problematic, and may therefore be decidedly unbiblical, the consequence of abuse of words. This means that this Christian interpretive tradition has significantly contributed to the long and tragic history of women's inferior status, of their restricted roles in home, church and society, and of their frequent subjugation and abuse in hierarchical marriage relationships.”
Literary Structure
I have saved this one for last since it is my own favorite aspect of the Bible to investigate. While most commentaries and Bible dictionaries will at least contain a suggested table of contents to books such as Ephesians, analysis of the literary structure attempts to go one step further by showing how each individual passage relates to the others. It thus accomplishes several things at the same time by: providing a sort of internal commentary by locating parallel passages, acting as a guide to dividing up the book into its discrete paragraphs, and showing the main point(s) of emphasis intended by the author (whether one considers the human author or the ultimate author, the Holy Spirit).
Some of the larger commentaries devoted to only one biblical book will provide such proposed organizations or structures (generally symmetrical in nature), but one should not be surprised to find that there will often be a wide variety of such schemes proposed depending on the author.
This general field of structural literary analysis in itself the subject of exceedingly few recent scholarly books. There is David Dorsey's The Literary Structure of the Old Testament, but unfortunately he does not have a corresponding New Testament analysis. However, one fallback option is to simply search on this present website for my “Ephesians: Introduction to the Literary Structure” (or for any of the other books in the Bible). It is a brief summary of a much longer chapter to my unpublished book The Structure of Scripture. If you would like me to forward you by email the complete chapter on Ephesians or any other book in the Bible, just send me a message at elmerphd21@hotmail.com.
There are, however, two additional sources which may or may not be of help if you are interested.
One is Chiasmus in Antiquity by John Welch. A major limitation of this book is that it deals with only a single form of literary symmetry employed in the Bible, namely, chiasms. These are mirror-image arrangements illustrated by one such example he finds in Ephesians 4:4-6:
a. One body (4a)
b. One spirit (4b)
c. One hope (4c)
d. One Lord (5a)
c'. One faith (5b)
b'. One baptism (5c)
a'. One Father in all (6a)
This is fairly typical of Welch's analyses in that it is very weak indeed. Thus, it is hard to see any particularly clear-cut parallel whatsoever between a and a' or between b and b', even if c and c' do have similarities. Also, one would expect the references to the three persons of the Trinity to be symmetrically located at the beginning, center, and conclusion, which they certainly are not. In addition, in a chiasm one finds the main point of emphasis at the center whereas section a' appears to have the most emphasis in this series with its four-fold repetition of the word “all.” In conclusion, one should take all the analyses in Welch's book with a large grain of salt, and that is especially true of Welch's chapter on the Book of Mormon (He himself in an elder in that church).
John Breck's The Shape of Biblical Language is more trustworthy. For one thing it rightly broadens the concept of a chiasm to include parallel elements within mirror-image ones as well as recognizing symmetrical structures which have no center-point. The latter is demonstrated below in his analysis of Ephesians 5:21-33.
a. Submit yourself in reverence [fear] for Christ (v. 21)
b. Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as the Church does to Christ (vv. 22-24)
c. Husbands, love your wives as Christ did the Church (v. 25)
d. that [hina] he might sanctify her (v. 26)
d'. that [hina] he might present the Church to himself in splendor (v. 27)
c'. Husbands should love their wives as their one bodies (vv. 28-30)
b'. A man should join his wife, referring also to Christ and the Church (vv. 31-32)
a'. Let each man love his wife as himself and let the wife respect [fear] her husband (v. 33)
As you can see, this organization, in contrast to that of Welch, is firmly based on parallels both in specific wording and themes.
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