Table Of ContentTyndale New Testament
Commentaries
Volume 10
Series Editor: Eckhard J. Schnabel
Consulting Editor: Nicholas Perrin
Ephesians
An Introduction and Commentary
Darrell L. Bock
An imprint of InterVarsity Press
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© 2019 by Darrell L. Bock
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Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the NET Bible® copyright © 1996–2016
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First published 2019
USA ISBN 978-0-8308-5737-1 (digital)
USA ISBN 978-0-8308-4298-8 (print)
UK ISBN 978-1-78359-895-3 (digital)
UK ISBN 978-1-78359-894-6 (print)
Set in Garamond 11/13pt
Typeset in Great Britain by CRB Associates, Potterhanworth, Lincolnshire
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bock, Darrell L., author.
Title: Ephesians : an introduction and commentary / Darrell L. Bock.
Description: Downers Grove : InterVarsity Press, 2019. | Series: Tyndale New
Testament commentaries ; VOLUME 10 | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019007988 (print) | LCCN 2019012624 (ebook) | ISBN
9780830857371 (eBook) | ISBN 9780830842988 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Ephesians—Commentaries.
Classification: LCC BS2695.53 (ebook) | LCC BS2695.53 .B63 2019 (print) | DDC
227/.5077—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019007988
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
CONTENTS
General preface vii
Author’s preface ix
Abbreviations xi
Select bibliography xv
Introduction 1
1. The importance of Ephesians 1
2. Destinations(s) 2
3. Issues tied to authorship: comparison with Colossians 6
4. I ssues tied to authorship: comparison with other
New Testament materials 7
5. Authorship and date 10
6. Purpose, date and setting 21
Analysis 25
Commentary 27
Praise for the Tyndale Commentaries 214
About the Author 215
Tyndale Commentaries from InterVarsity Press 216
IVP Academic Textbook Selector 217
GENERAL PREFACE
The Tyndale Commentaries have been a flagship series for evangel-
ical readers of the Bible for over sixty years. Both the original New
Testament volumes (1956–1974) as well as the new commentaries
(1983–2003) rightly established themselves as a point of first
reference for those who wanted more than is usually offered in a
one-volume Bible commentary, without requiring the technical
skills in Greek and in Jewish and Graeco-Roman studies of the
more detailed series, and with the advantage of being shorter than
the volumes of intermediate commentary series. The appearance
of new popular commentary series demonstrates that there is a
continuing demand for commentaries that appeal to Bible study
leaders in churches and at universities. The publisher, editors and
authors of the Tyndale Commentaries believe that the series
continues to meet an important need in the Christian community,
not least in what we call today the Global South, with its immense
growth of churches and the corresponding need for a thorough
understanding of the Bible by Christian believers.
In the light of new knowledge, new critical questions, new
revisions of Bible translations, and the need to provide specific
guidance on the literary context and the theological emphases of
the individual passage, it was time to publish new commentaries in
the series. Four authors will revise their commentary that appeared
in the second series. The original aim remains. The new commen-
taries are neither too short nor unduly long. They are exegetical and
thus root the interpretation of the text in its historical context. They
viii ephesians
do not aim to solve all critical questions, but they are written with
an awareness of major scholarly debates which may be treated in
the Introduction, in Additional Notes or in the commentary itself.
While not specifically homiletic in aim, they want to help readers to
understand the passage under consideration in such a way that they
begin to see points of relevance and application, even though the
commentary does not explicitly offer these. The authors base their
exegesis on the Greek text, but they write for readers who do not
know Greek; Hebrew and Greek terms that are discussed are
transliterated. The English translation used for the first series
was the Authorized (King James) Version, while the volumes of
the second series mostly used the Revised Standard Version; the
volumes of the third series use either the New International Version
(2011) or the New Revised Standard Version as primary versions,
unless otherwise indicated by the author.
An immense debt of gratitude for the first and second series of
the Tyndale Commentaries was owed to R. V. G. Tasker and
L. Morris, who each wrote four of the commentaries themselves.
The recruitment of new authors for the third series proved to be
effortless, as colleagues responded enthusiastically to be involved in
this project, a testimony both to the larger number of New Testa-
ment scholars capable and willing to write commentaries, to
the wider ethnic identity of contributors, and to the role that the
Tyndale Commentaries have played in the church worldwide. It
continues to be the hope of all those concerned with this series that
God will graciously use the new commentaries to help readers
understand as fully and clearly as possible the meaning of the New
Testament.
Eckhard J. Schnabel, Series Editor
Nicholas Perrin, Consulting Editor
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
The epistle to the Ephesians is about a dynamic community. Such
a community is what stands behind the writing of this commentary.
I taught this epistle in a basic exegesis course at Dallas Theological
Seminary for well over twenty years. The interaction with students
and their enthusiasm to get serious about the study of the Greek
text kept this study from becoming old. My thanks go to the many
students who taught me much as we discussed this letter, as well as
to the New Testament Department where I have served for more
than thirty-five years. These are some of the best colleagues one
could spend a career working alongside.
I also must express appreciation to my team past and present at
the Hendricks Center. My more recent work on cultural engage-
ment has sought to encourage the application of much of what this
letter calls for from believers. So my thanks go to Bill Hendricks,
Pam Cole, Kymberli Cook, Amanda Stidham, Mikel Del Rosario,
Heather Zimmerman and Carol Rosell, all of whom have taught me
much about faith in practice. Special thanks go to Peter Green, who
read over this manuscript and made many helpful observations
about it in terms of content and clarity. I have used the New English
Translation (net) or Revised Standard Version (rsv) in most cases.
In other places, the translation is my own.
I am grateful for the invitation of Eckhard Schnabel to par-
ticipate in this series and for giving me the choice to work on this
great epistle. It was a risk on his part to let this mostly Jesus and
Gospels person work on a piece from Paul.
x ephesians
Once again, I must thank my wife of well over forty years, Sally
Bock. She has been a great life partner and during these years has
experienced many an hour when I have been at my computer
working on one commentary or another.
So I offer this treatment of a wonderful short epistle whose
impact far outweighs its length. No words are adequate to sum-
marize its content and value, but perhaps this commentary will
encourage its readers to the good works God prepared beforehand
by his grace that we might walk in them (Eph. 2:10).
Darrell L. Bock
