Διὰ τοῦτο κἀγὼ

ἀκούσας

τὴν καθʼ ὑμᾶς πίστιν ἐν τῷ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ

καὶ

τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους

οὐ παύομαι

εὐχαριστῶν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν

μνείαν ποιούμενος ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν μου

ἵνα

ὁ θεὸς τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ,

ὁ πατὴρ τῆς δόξης,

δώῃ ὑμῖν

πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ, πεφωτισμένους τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς

καρδίας [ὑμῶν]

εἰς τὸ εἰδέναι ὑμᾶς

τίς ἐστιν

ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς κλήσεως αὐτοῦ,

τίς

ὁ πλοῦτος τῆς δόξης τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις,

καὶ τί

τὸ ὑπερβάλλον μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ

εἰς ἡμᾶς τοὺς πιστεύοντας

κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ κράτους τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ.

ἣν

ἐνήργησεν ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ

ἐγείρας αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν

καὶ

καθίσας ἐν δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις

ὑπεράνω πάσης ἀρχῆς

καὶ ἐξουσίας

καὶ δυνάμεως

καὶ κυριότητος

καὶ παντὸς ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένου,

οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ

ἀλλὰ

καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι·

καὶ πάντα ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ

καὶ αὐτὸν ἔδωκεν κεφαλὴν ὑπὲρ πάντα τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ,

ἥτις ἐστὶν

τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ,

τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν

πληρουμένου.

What Kind of Power? An Exegetical Study in Ephesians 1:15-23

Barnabas Aspray

2

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for

this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of

wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart

enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the

riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable

greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at

his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and

dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to

come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things

for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.1

The first prayer of the epistle to the Ephesians is a shocking challenge to all who read it,

Christian and non-Christian alike. The claim that Christ has the supremacy over all things is a

public claim about objective reality, not a matter of private spirituality. In a world obsessed with

control, manipulation and magic, this prayer gives all power unreservedly to one person. In a

world terrified of supernatural evil forces, this prayer proclaims that they have all been

vanquished. But Paul does not simply transfer power to Christ; he subverts the prevalent

understanding of the nature of power itself. It is the power of sacrifice, service, and relationship.

Paul claims those who belong to Christ have access to that same power. In this essay I aim to

demonstrate the dual universality and particularity of this Ephesian prayer, addressing a specific

cultural context and at the same time speaking of realities true to all cultures and all ages. I aim

to show that Eph 1:15-23 is an invitation to the Christian church to reimagine the very nature of

power, laying hold of the unique and all-surpassing power available to them, living as agents of

the one who rules all things, trusting in his fatherly care, and doing so no matter how much it

may cost. This is an invitation as defiantly absurd, practical, true and relevant today as it was to

the epistle’s first hearers.

We begin by setting this pericope in its context. The epistle to the Ephesians is the “least

occasional” of the Pauline epistles.2 Although there are rhetorical features in Ephesians that

indicate its applicability to a specific situation, that situation was itself geographically broad and

historically long-term, involving common cultural practices throughout the Greco-Roman world.

1 Eph 1:15-23, NRSV 2 Personal conversation with Biblical Languages Professor David Clemens, Regent College, January 2013. Although

Romans has often been considered the “general” letter, closer investigation reveals Romans’ to be addressing a specific set of

problems facing the Roman church at that time. See Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, New International Commentary

on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1996), 1–5; Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids,

Mich: Eerdmans, 1987), 7–18.

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3

Clinton Arnold provides evidence that the epistle was written to a collection of churches

throughout Asia Minor.3 Ernest Best avers that, although this locality fits the data well, “Arnold

has not shown that there were not other suitable areas.”4 Peter O’Brien concurs that “[Arnold’s]

proposed life-setting for Ephesus and its environs need not be limited to this city.”5 Andrew

Lincoln offers a mediating viewpoint, suggesting that Asia is the “most plausible geographical

setting” but noting also that the universality of the message of Ephesians “so easily transcends its

original setting” that “attempts to propose specific settings” are “hazardous.”6 Lincoln’s

treatment of the text-critical issue in 1:1, arguing for the absence of ἐν Ἐφέσῳ in the original

text, I find persuasive.7 This leaves us with the likelihood that Ephesians was a circular letter,

written to churches in Asia Minor but containing a message applicable beyond this region. The

most significant restriction on intended audience is that they appear to have been exclusively

Gentiles.8

Questions of authorship and date for Ephesians are closely related, but neither need make a

significant difference to its theological message. The circumstances addressed were prevalent

throughout the entire time period during which the epistle may have been written. Positions

concerning authorship depend on relative weight given to the criteria used (literary style, themes,

word usage, etc.), but the importance of Pauline authorship as requisite for theological authority

rests on a view of canonicity which I do not find compelling, being persuaded that the canonical

status of an epistle is decisive for its authority in the church.9 I shall for convenience refer to the

author as Paul, without thereby implying a firm opinion about authorship.

The central themes in Ephesians are church unity, high Christology, realised eschatology,

spiritual warfare, and revelation of a mystery. These themes are deeply interwoven, building on

and reinforcing one another. Ephesians is distinguished from other Pauline epistles by the

centrality given to ecclesiology; Lightfoot notes that here “Paul has given to his teaching a new

3 Clinton E. Arnold, Power and Magic: The Concept of Power in Ephesians, 2nd ed (Eugene, Or: Wipf and Stock

Publishers, 2000), 5. 4 Ernest Best, Ephesians, New Testament Guides (Sheffield, Eng: JSOT Press, 1993), 6. 5 Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B.

Eerdmans Pub. Co, 1999), 55. 6 Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians, Word Biblical Commentary v. 42 (Waco, Tex: Word Books, 1990), lxxxi. 7 Ibid., 1–4. 8 As made explicit in 2:11 and 3:1. See ibid., lxxci. 9 On this, see Craig D. Allert, A High View of Scripture?: The Authority of the Bible and the Formation of the New

Testament Canon (Baker Academic, 2007).

Barnabas Aspray

4

centre. In this Epistle it revolves about the doctrine of the Church.”10 The ecclesiology is

nonetheless built on a solid Christological base. Roy Jeal argues that the “Christology of the

exalted and ruling Christ is foundational in Ephesians. This Christology presupposes all other

material in Ephesians including the ecclesiology.”11 The link between the two is found in a

realised eschatology which Lincoln calls the “distinctive emphasis of Ephesians.”12 Although

Christ’s rule in the future is referenced,13 it is Christ’s present rule whose implications for the

church are made explicit through Paul’s paranaesis, of which a major component is the necessity

of fighting a spiritual battle.14 Our understanding of this, however, is a mystery formerly hidden

and now revealed, which Paul prays that the Ephesians will have the insight and wisdom to

perceive fully, in order effectively to fight the forces of evil.15

All these themes underline the importance of power. The mystery revealed involves both the

‘whence’ and the ‘what’ of true power. Church unity is essential (even possible) because there is

only one who has power, to whom the church belongs as an inheritance.16 Christ has power not

only in the future (eschatology) but also in the present (realised); he is the one who now reigns.17

Therefore the church will be able to fight evil powers, as long as she grasps the reality and nature

of Christ’s rule – an insight not easy to perceive either intellectually or emotionally, itself

requiring wisdom and strength.18

In view of the centrality of the concept of power in Ephesians, an extended investigation into

prevalent views of power in the first century is key for providing a context to Paul’s argument.

The Greco-Roman world was characterised by the worship of power. Everett Ferguson writes

that “people became more interested in divine deeds and power than in divine personalities,”

leading to a depersonalisation of deities. “Power was undefined, wonderful, and marvellous, and

10 Cited in Brooke Foss Westcott, Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians: The Greek Text (London: Macmillan, 1906), lxii. 11 Roy Roger Jeal, The Exalted and Ruling Christ in Ephesians, 1985, iv. 12 Lincoln, Ephesians, xc. 13 See 1:14; 2:7; 4:30; 5:5; 6:8, 13 14 See 6:10-17 15 See 1:9, 17-18; 3:3-4, 18 16 1:18 17 1:21 18 3:18

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its manifestations were deserving of worship and worth trying to explain and control.”19

Especially “The power of fate was very strongly felt in the early empire.”20

The obsession with power was closely related to the pervasive influence of the supernatural

in every area of life felt by the ancient world, leading to a proliferation of the practice of magic.

Arnold observes that “the overriding characteristic of the practice of magic throughout the

Hellenistic world was the cognizance of a spirit world exercising influence over virtually every

aspect of life.”21 Magic differs from ‘religion’ in both depersonalising and mechanising

spirituality – and knowledge – for the sake of control. ‘Religion’ becomes ‘magic’ when its

purpose is “management of supernatural powers in such a way that results are virtually

guaranteed.”22 The purpose of magic was “manipulation of the spirits in the interest of the

individual person” made available by knowledge of the right manipulative technique.23 The

focus on magic as a means of control was driven in part by fear. “Fear of the demonic realm was

a very important factor in the use of magic.”24

More locally, the city of Ephesus was a centre for magic. “Ephesus had a reputation for

prolificity of magical practices.”25 “Of all ancient Graeco-Roman cities, Ephesus, the third

largest city in the Empire, was by far the most hospitable to magicians, sorcerers, and charlatans

of all sorts.”26 This picture is supported by the book of Acts. Acts 19-20 tell of Paul’s stay in

Ephesus, during which he encountered a number of Gentile and Jewish magicians and

exorcists.27 But Ephesus was neither unique in its view of power, nor without its own impact on

the surrounding area. “Since Ephesus was the leading city of Asia Minor, its influence in the

sphere of magic very likely extended throughout the province.”28

In addition to knowledge, of prominent importance was the invocation of powers by means of

their name. “In the ancient world a name was more than a verbal symbol; it was believed to have

19 Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 2nd ed (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1993), 173–174. 20 Ibid., 176. 21 Arnold, Power and Magic, 18. 22 David Aune, cited in ibid., 19. 23 Ibid., 18. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid., 20. 26 Cited in ibid., 14. 27 Acts 19:13, 19 28 Arnold, Power and Magic, 20.

Barnabas Aspray

6

a genuine relation to the reality to which it was attached.”29 The ‘naming of names’ was

specifically associated with magic. “The calling of the names of supernatural ’powers’ was

fundamental to the practice of magic.”30 Therefore, it is no coincidence that of the six times Paul

uses the word ‘ὀνομαζω’, three are in Ephesians, and that the word also occurs once in Acts

19:13, “in the account of the roaming Jewish exorcists at Ephesus!”31

Ephesus was also the home of the temple of the goddess Artemis, whose worship extended

throughout Asia Minor and was “internationally recognized as a premier religion.”32 One of the

important qualities Artemis possessed was power. She was “worshiped at Ephesus as

πρποθρονια, supreme in divine power and place.”33 “To those who called upon Artemis she was

Savior (Σωτειρα), Lord (Κυρια), and Queen of the Cosmos (Βασιληις κοσμου). She was a

heavenly goddess (οὐρανιος θεος Ἀρτεμις Ἐφεσια), whose being and character could only be

described in superlatives: μεγιστη, ἁγιωτατη, and ἐπιφανεστατη.”34 “Α prayer to the Ephesian

Artemis recorded in the Acts of John by Pseudo-Prochorus [says:] ‘All the Ephesians know, both

men and women, that all things (τα παντα) are governed by you, and that great powers (δυναμεις

μεγαλαι) come to us through you.’”35

To summarise, we have the following profile for the concept of power in Ephesus. Power was

predominantly viewed as spiritual, impersonal, and mechanistic. It was desired as a means by

which people could control their circumstances, a desire resulting partly from fear of evil

supernatural forces. It was believed that power could be acquired by acquiring the right

knowledge, and invoked by the naming of names. The goddess Artemis, whose temple was in

Ephesus, was seen by Ephesians as the ‘most powerful’ deity, capable of protecting and

delivering her worshipers from evil spirits.36 Ephesus had a huge influence over Asia Minor and

the Ephesian view of power extended, or was reciprocally reinforced, throughout the Roman

empire.

29 Best, Ephesians, 173. 30 Arnold, Power and Magic, 54. 31 Ibid., 55. 32 The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 2, 1st ed (New York, N.Y: Doubleday, 1992), 548; See also Arnold, Power and Magic,

20; Acts 19:23-41. 33 Arnold, Power and Magic, 21. 34 R. Oster, cited in ibid. 35 Ibid., 22. 36 Ibid., 27.

Barnabas Aspray

7

Into this context Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians strikes like a thunderbolt with a breathtaking

message of good news free from fear and the need for control. Paul redefines every term,

challenges every presupposition, and proclaims a gospel of unimaginable hope that could only

have been given by revelation and can only be grasped by faith.

Paul lays the foundation for the rest of his letter in his initial prayer. After beginning the letter

with an extended blessing, or berakah,37 focused on God and introducing many of the letter’s

themes, Paul shifts his focus to those to whom he writes, a typical literary pattern in the Pauline

corpus.38

The text of Eph 1:15-23 is relatively stable. Only one variant has significance for the

passage’s meaning: whether 1:15 includes the words τὴν ἀγάπην or not.39 Without them, the text

reads “I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and towards the saints.” Westcott prefers this

reading on the basis that Philemon 5 also speaks of “faith towards the saints.”40 Lincoln,

however, avers that Philemon 5 should be taken as a chiasm, “love for the saints and faith in

Jesus,”41 and, with Bruce Metzger, sees the omission of τὴν ἀγάπην as a homoeoarcton, in which

a scribe’s eye skipped from the first τὴν to the second.42 I agree with Metzger and Lincoln, both

for their given reasons and because otherwise Paul’s use of ‘faith’ would be a zeugma;43 faith in

Christ is not the same sort of faith that the Ephesians should have ‘for’ the saints.

The central topic of Eph 1:15-23 is power. Jeal writes, “The most striking aspect coming

from a first glance at these verses is the piling up of vocabulary and phraseology that is virtually

synonymous with the word ‘power’.”44

However, Paul’s view of power is by no means that which prevailed in Ephesus or the

ancient world.

37 Ralph P. Martin, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching

(Atlanta, Ga: John Knox Press, 1991), 13. 38 Best, Ephesians, 156. 39 The other major variant within this pericope, the possible addition of ὑμῶν in 1:18, makes no difference to the passage’s

meaning as the word is implied anyway. Probably a later scribe added it for the sake of clarity. 40 Westcott, Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, 21. 41 Lincoln, Ephesians, 47. 42 Bruce Manning Metzger and United Bible Societies, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: a Companion

Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (Third Edition), 1st ed (London: United Bible Societies, 1971), 602. 43 In which the same word is used to refer to two objects but in a way that requires it have two different meanings. 44 Jeal, The Exalted and Ruling Christ in Ephesians, 50.

Barnabas Aspray

8

First, the power Paul proclaims is personal. It is “received through faith in a personal God,

not by a recipe or a conjuration using animal viscera or by chanting magical words and names.”45

It is rooted in Christ, whose God is ὁ πατὴρ τῆς δόξης, the father who is both glorious and the

source of glory.46 There are few more personal relations than that of parenthood. The church’s

relationship to Christ, however, is even more personal: she is the body of which he is the head.47

And if, as Paul later writes, nobody ever hated their own body, but loves and cares for it,48 how

much more must Christ love the church! For this reason Paul thanks God that the church is

showing that same love for all the saints;49 it shows they already have some conception of the

power about which he speaks, a personal power rooted in love.

Second, this is not power over which the church has control; it is not mechanistic. Rather,

Christ as the head is the one who controls his body the church, using her to achieve his purposes

for the world. In the ancient world the ‘head’ was the body’s “inspiring, ruling, guiding,

combining, sustaining power, the mainspring of its activity, the centre of its unity, and the seat of

its life.”50 The church has access to its power insofar as, and because she is his body, his δόξης

τῆς κληρονομίας (glorious inheritance).51

Similarly to the conception of the ancient world, this power is made available by knowledge.

But it is not knowledge acquired by human intelligence. It is a spiritual gift, and Paul prays that

the church might be given that gift - πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ.52

This phrase has resonances with the Old Testament. We can be sure that Paul’s intended

audience were familiar with the Hebrew scriptures, due to the number of explicit citations

elsewhere.53 Therefore we can be reasonably confident that they would also have recognised

allusions such as this, whose significance lies in its being a list of qualities of the Messiah,

Israel’s Anointed.

The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him,

the spirit of wisdom and understanding, (LXX: πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ συνέσεως)

the spirit of counsel and might,

45 Arnold, Power and Magic, 73. 46 O’Brien argues for both an attributive genitive and a genitive of source. See O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, 131. 47 1:23 48 5:29 49 1:15 50 Lightfoot, cited in O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, 81. 51 1:18 52 1:17 53 Best, Ephesians, 3.

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the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.54

The difference between Ephesians 1:17 and Isaiah 11:2 – the substitution of συνέσεως (insight)

for ἀποκαλύψεως (revelation) – gives the passage its distinctively Christian flavour contrasted

with Judaism: in Christ the church has received a fresh unveiling of God’s purposes. The church,

as the body of the Christ, Israel’s Anointed (LXX: ὁ χριστος), shall be given – because of him

and through him – a spirit of wisdom, revelation, counsel and might, in order to become more

closely connected to him as a body is connected to its head.55

The overriding emphasis of Paul’s assertion of power is that it unreservedly and completely

belongs to Christ. God displayed both the extent and nature of his power in raising Christ from

the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly places.56 The phrase καθίσας ἐν δεξιᾷ

αὐτοῦ is another scriptural allusion:

The LORD says to my lord,

“Sit at my right hand (LXX: Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου)

until I make your enemies your footstool.”57

The metaphor of being seated at Yahweh’s right hand means to be given “the place of highest

honour in heaven.” It is “vested with Messianic implications and is quoted at many places in the

NT.”58 In fact the entire Psalm speaks of the power that God will give to his anointed priest-king

to rule over the nations, and we can be sure that, in referring to its first verse, Paul alludes to the

entire Psalm.

The phrase ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις (‘in the heavenlies’) likewise refers to spiritual power.

ἐπουρανίοις denotes the realm where both good and evil powers exercise dominion over earth,59

despite being literally the word for ‘sky’. On the physical/metaphorical ambiguity inherent in the

word ἐπουρανίοις, potentially implying Christ’s physical location “up there,” Best writes, “it is

difficult to know whether [Paul] took these spatial terms literally or metaphorically. … The

association of ‘aboveness’ with a position of power is natural; a royal throne is set on a dais.”60 I

54 Isaiah 11:2-3a, NRSV 55 4:15 56 1:20 57 Psalm 110:1, NRSV 58 E.g. Mk 16:19, Rom 8:34; Col 3:1; Heb 10:12; 1 Pet 3:22. See C. Leslie Mitton, Ephesians, New Century Bible

(Greenwood, S.C: Attic Press, 1976), 71. 59 Lincoln, Ephesians, 20–21. 60 Best, Ephesians, 172.

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believe this attempt to distinguish literal from metaphorical misunderstands the close semiotic

relationship between the two in human speech. In ancient languages there were no ‘literal’

abstract words; everything abstract was of necessity referred to metaphorically. The slow

‘literalisation’ of abstract terms is a consequence both of many centuries and of the continual

mixing of languages. Owen Barfield writes cogently about this development:

Barfield argues that the literal language we now have evolved out of was originally a

totally figurative semiotic system, wherein all words were ‘vehicles‘ with ‘tenors‘, or

layers of nuanced meanings. Any literalness our language now has is ‘achieved‘ rather

than given, which accounts for why metaphor may be so deeply embedded in our

conceptual systems. ‘The vast majority of words by which we today denote the objects of

the outer world have at some stage in their history been vehicles with a tenor, and, if that

is so, it follows … that they began life as vehicles with a tenor. They too can only have

achieved a literalness with which they were not born.’61

There are numerous reasons for height to be associated with power. Taller people are usually

able to overpower smaller people, because taller usually equals bigger, stronger. Geographical

height is an advantage in battle. Both examples point to the intrinsic relationship of power to

gravity. That which is on top naturally exerts pressure on that which is below, so the higher

something is, the freer it is from other pressures and the more pressure it exerts on everything

underneath it. In reality the metaphorical association of height with power is so deeply embedded

in language that we notice it as rarely as a fish notices water. People receive ‘promotions’ to

‘higher’ positions, the animal at the ‘top’ of the food chain eats those ‘below’, and so on. In

short, there is no need to separate literal from metaphorical in Paul, because in this Paul speaks

the language of humanity.

Therefore, we can agree with Lincoln that “heaven … has a priority as the upper and

controlling part of the universe.”62 Christ’s position in the heavenlies, then, is his position in the

realm which rules earth, which has power over workings on earth. But what position in the

heavenlies does Christ occupy? After asserting Christ’s position at God’s right hand (which itself

means the highest position), Paul goes on to drive home the point. Christ has been placed

ὑπεράνω πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ κυριότητος καὶ παντὸς ὀνόματος

61 Eva Braunstein, “Words and the Word: Metaphor, Analogy and Dialogic Discourse as a Theology of Language,” Journal

of the Regent College Student Association Academic Symposium (March 2011): 45. 62 Cited in Jeal, The Exalted and Ruling Christ in Ephesians, 58.

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ὀνομαζομένου, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name

that is named.”63

Although word studies on these four terms for power yield interesting results, the point, as

many commentators note, is not the precise meaning of each word but the rhetorical force of

their combination.64 Their resonances in the OT reinforce the idea of authority, domination, and

rulership.65 One such may be worth highlighting: the occasional use of δύναμις in the LXX as a

translation of צבא, ‘armies’, when translating the common epithet of Yahweh as ה צבאות ,יהו

“The Lord of armies” (or traditionally “The Lord of hosts”). This reinforces the point about the

ancient use of metaphor to denote abstract concepts.66 With this phrase the OT is simply

asserting that that Yahweh is able to do what he wills. The point Paul is making is that Christ has

this same power – indeed, that Christ’s power is far above any other conceivable power that can

be named or invoked.

There has been some discussion concerning whether Paul is speaking of spiritual or ‘earthly’

(political, military, etc.) power. Best suggests both are implied: “In the ancient world the natural

and supernatural were not clearly distinguished as with us but closely interwoven.”67 While this

is undoubted, Lincoln avers that throughout Ephesians Paul emphatically excludes the ‘natural’

from consideration. Paul “believes the powers to be spiritual agencies in the heavenly realm

standing behind any earthly or human institutions (cf. 6:12: ‘for our combat is not against flesh

and blood, but against the principalities [ἀρχάς], against the authorities [ἐξουσίας], against the

world-rulers [κοσμοκράτορας] of this dark domain, against the spiritual forces of evil in the

heavenly realms’).”68 Our above study of power supports Lincoln’s view, due to the pervasive

emphasis on the supernatural in the ancient world, but especially in Ephesus.

63 Eph 1:21, NRSV 64 “The point in the writer’s heaping up of these expressions is not their distinctiveness but their similarity.” Lincoln,

Ephesians, 60; See also Best, Ephesians, 173. 65 For ἐξουσία see Ps 114:2, Ps 136:8 (LXX); for ἀρχή see Gen 40:17, 21, 41:13, 2 Macc 4:10 (LXX); κυριότης does not

appear in the LXX. 66 It is worth remembering that the Greek word δύναμις is related to the verb δύναμαι “to be able.” Even in English, the word

‘power’ is etymologically rooted in the concept of ‘ability’. In French and Spanish this connection is more obvious, as puissant

derives from pouvoir and poderoso from poder. 67 Best, Ephesians, 176. 68 Lincoln, Ephesians, 64. Emphasis original.

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The relevance for Ephesian Christians of the emphasis on Christ’s superiority well

summarised by Arnold:

For the person who has been converted out of a background of magical practices, Eph

1:21 would convey a powerful message. Christ’s power and authority is cosmic in scope.

His name alone, and not his name in addition to others, is sufficient for a successful

confrontation with the ‘powers’ of evil. The convert would no longer need to live with

the fear that perhaps one or a number of supernatural ‘powers’ could be equal to or

superior to Christ – Christ’s power and authority is exceedingly superior to al categories

of ‘powers’, indeed, ‘every name that is named’!69

But what are the practical implications of Christ’s superiority? What does it mean that Christ

has all power? Does it mean that Christians will be free from pain, trials, tribulations,

disappointments, grief, and sorrow? Does it mean that Christians can use Christ’s power to gain

or achieve anything they might wish? The given realities of the world in which we live seem to

sharply refute this point. In an attempt to wrestle with the practicalities of applying this passage,

Best offers what must be considered a ‘sensible’ solution:

While [Paul] and his readers might in some way accept the concept that supernatural

beings are already subject to Christ their conqueror, we cannot understand, to take an

example, the car accident in which some innocent person dies as an event subject to

Christ; it is a stubborn fact and it and others like it will go on recurring while the world

lasts. Once we have transformed spiritual beings into facts and observable forces we

cannot see them as already overcome by Christ. Again it is difficult for us to take

seriously the idea that the church proclaims the wisdom of God (3:10) to facts and

observable forces. On the other hand when we encounter unpleasant facts and forces we

may be able to face them better if we equip ourselves with the spiritual armour offered in

6:14-17. It is probably therefore wrong to attempt to transform the powers into anything

which we can observe and measure, though many of the things we can observe and

measure affect us in unexpected ways.70

This reflection, by a scholar unable to reconcile the claims of the text with the reality he

encounters, is a not unreasonable attempt to derive some meagre meaning from it nonetheless.

But if only he had looked a little further forward, and asked himself how the early church lived

out their understanding of the text, he might have been faced with an interpretation that faced

squarely all of the harsh and brutal realities of life and yet triumphantly proclaimed Christ’s

domination in and through their suffering and persecution.

69 Arnold, Power and Magic, 56. 70 Best, Ephesians, 179.

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There is no mention of the cross in 1:15-23, but it hovers like a shadow over the text, never

visible but always present. There are two indications of this. First, a Christ who has been raised71

must first have been crucified. You cannot have an ascended Christ without a descended Christ,

as Paul makes explicit later.72 “Without the resurrection, the cross would be a cause for despair.

Without the cross, the resurrection would be an escape from reality,” J.D.G. Dunn writes. “The

significance of the one cannot be grasped in isolation from that of the other.”73

Second, Paul links the sort of power God manifested in Christ directly with the sort of power

available to the church. He prays that the church will have the insight to know the

“immeasurable greatness of [God’s] power for us who believe, according to [κατά] the working

of his mighty power which [ἣν] he worked in Christ by raising him from the dead.”74 I want to

highlight the importance of the two words, κατά and ἣν, which form the logical connection

between God’s power, Christ’s death and resurrection, and the believing church. The

immeasurable power available to believers corresponds to the power shown in Christ, who died

and was raised. Our access to God’s power is by dying with Christ, in order to be raised with

him.75 That is the model of God’s love for his children, that is his way of working in the world,

that is how he will use the church, Christ’s body, to proclaim his message.

Here we reach the subversive heart of Paul’s message. It is difficult to believe, both on an

intellectual and an emotional level, which is why Paul later prays that the Ephesians will have

the strength to grasp it.76 Christ has been given the highest power over everything (τὰ πάντα),77

and that power is available to his church. But it is manifest the same way Christ manifested his

power: through humility, service, and sacrifice. In the paranaesis Paul makes this explicit. He

begins by begging the church to “lead a life worthy of [your] calling.”78 This calling is lived out

“with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.”79 Christ’s

power is not accessed through manipulation, but through mutual submission.80 This is the

71 1:20 72 4:9 73 James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1998), 234. 74 1:19-20. Italics mine. 75 2:6 76 3:18 77 1:22 78 4:1 79 4:2 80 5:21

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upside-down message of the gospel: that strength comes through weakness, life through death,

power through service, freedom through relinquishing control.

In conclusion, we have seen how Paul’s first prayer in Ephesians lays the platform for the

themes which unfold in the remainder of the letter. God has given unsurpassable power to Christ,

and made that power available to the church. There is no longer any need to fear evil spiritual

forces. But the church is not the head, the control centre of this power. Instead, as Christ’s body

we are connected to him, and Christ’s power is channelled through us just as God’s power was

channelled through Christ. And just as Christ manifested God’s power through humble

submission to God’s will, even unto death, so the church bears powerful witness to the reality of

Christ’s reign, not in control or manipulation, but in mutual submission, wisdom, and strength of

character to endure trials and to resist the forces of darkness, no matter what the cost, knowing

that Christ’s power and love for his church is sufficient. As Christ’s glorious inheritance, we

have an unquenchable hope. Paul prays that the church may have the wisdom and revelation to

fully grasp that hope, so as to know the “immeasurable greatness of His power for us who

believe.”81

81 1:19, NRSV

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