The Epistle of St Paul to the Ephesians (Book of Ephesians)

The Epistle to the Ephesians, in the Vulgate Epistola ad Ephesios, is the fifth of the fourteen Epistles of St Paul in the New Testament, after Galatians and before Philippians. It is short, six chapters and 155 verses, yet few books of Scripture say so much about the Church. Challoner warned his readers that "the matters of faith contained in this Epistle are exceedingly sublime, and consequently very difficult to be understood." It moves from the eternal plan of God, "to re-establish all things in Christ" (1:10), to the plainest duties of the Christian home.

The author of the Book of Ephesians

St Paul the Apostle wrote it, and the letter opens with his name: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to all the saints who are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 1). He writes again in his own name in chapter 3: "I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles."

The witness of the early Church agrees. St Polycarp, the disciple of St John, cites the words of 4:26, "Be angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger," to the Philippians as "these scriptures" (Epistle to the Philippians 12). St Ignatius of Antioch, writing to the Ephesians on his way to martyrdom, already knew it, and St Irenaeus cites "the blessed Paul" in "the Epistle to the Ephesians" by name. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 adds St Justin and even the heretic Marcion. The Pontifical Biblical Commission, which ruled on the Pastoral Epistles in 1913 and on Hebrews in 1914, issued no decree on Ephesians.

Many modern scholars, pointing to its style and its closeness to Colossians, propose that a disciple wrote it after Paul's death. The Church has always received it as the Apostle's own. For his life and journeys, see our article on St Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Date and place of writing

Tradition places the letter in St Paul's first Roman captivity, about AD 61-63. Challoner's preface states it plainly: "He wrote this Epistle to them when he was a prisoner at Rome, and sent it by Tychicus," and "it was written about twenty-nine years after our Lord's Ascension." Paul calls himself "a prisoner in the Lord" (Ephesians 4) and "an ambassador in a chain" (Ephesians 6). This fits the two years he spent under guard "in his own hired lodging" at the end of the Acts of the Apostles; the Catholic Encyclopedia places the letter between 58 and 63, leaving open whether Paul wrote from Rome or from his earlier captivity at Caesarea.

Ephesians is one of the four Captivity Epistles, with Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. Tychicus, "my dearest brother and faithful minister in the Lord" (6:21), carried both Ephesians and Colossians (Colossians 4:7-9), travelling with Onesimus, the slave of Philemon. The two letters share whole phrases and the same order of teaching.

The Ephesians and the Churches of Asia

The letter is addressed to the Christians of Ephesus, the great city of the province of Asia. Challoner describes it as "the capital of Lesser Asia, and celebrated for the temple of Diana." Paul preached there for nearly three years, until the silversmiths rioted crying "Great is Diana of the Ephesians" (Acts 19). He later bade farewell to its elders at Miletus (Acts 20). St Timothy was left to govern the Church there (1 Timothy 1), and St John later lived and died at Ephesus, whose Church receives the first of the seven letters in Apocalypse 2.

The words "at Ephesus" are missing from a few of the oldest Greek manuscripts, as St Basil already remarked, and Origen did not read them; the letter also has few personal greetings. The Catholic Encyclopedia therefore reports that most commentators take it for a circular letter, sent to a small circle of Churches in Asia; Challoner likewise says Paul warned the Ephesians "and also those of the neighbouring cities." The tradition keeps the title ad Ephesios.

The purpose of Ephesians

Unlike Galatians, it answers no crisis. Challoner says Paul "admonishes them to hold firmly the faith which they had received" and warns them against false teachers. The Catholic Encyclopedia sums up the purpose: to make the faithful see the dignity of their calling and the unity of the Church, in which Jew and Gentile are made one. The key is in Ephesians 4: "walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called."

What is the Book of Ephesians about? A summary

The letter has two parts divided by a doxology: a doctrinal part (chapters 1–3) on what God has done for us in Christ, and a moral part (chapters 4–6) on how we must live because of it.

The eternal plan of God (chapter 1)

Paul opens with a hymn of blessing: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ: As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity" (chapter 1). The Father predestined us to be His adopted children; the Son redeemed us "through his blood"; the Holy Ghost is the seal and "pledge of our inheritance." The Father set the risen Christ above every principality and "made him head over all the church, Which is his body."

Saved by grace, made one in Christ (chapter 2)

We were "dead in sins" and "by nature children of wrath," but God, "who is rich in mercy," has raised us to life in Christ (Ephesians 2). We are saved by grace, through faith, and "created in Christ Jesus in good works." Christ has broken down "the middle wall of partition" between Jew and Gentile, reconciling both "in one body by the cross." The Gentiles are now "fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God, Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone."

The mystery revealed to Paul (chapter 3)

The "mystery of Christ," hidden from former ages, is that "the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body" (Ephesians 3). Paul received the grace "to preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ." He bows his knees to the Father, "of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named," and prays that they may know "the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge," before closing the doctrinal part with a doxology.

Unity of the Body and the new man (chapter 4)

Chapter 4 calls for unity: "One body and one Spirit... One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all." Applying Psalm 67 (68) to Christ, Paul writes: "Ascending on high, he led captivity captive; he gave gifts to men." These gifts are "some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors," so that we be no more "carried about with every wind of doctrine." Then the Christian must "put off... the old man" and "put on the new man," giving up lying, theft, bitter speech and lasting anger.

Children of light; Christ and the Church (chapter 5)

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children; And walk in love" (Ephesians 5). Fornication and uncleanness must not "so much as be named among you"; "you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord." The chapter ends with the great teaching on marriage: wives subject to their husbands "as the church is subject to Christ," husbands loving their wives "as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it."

The household and the armour of God (chapter 6)

Chapter 6 gives the duties of children and fathers, quoting the commandment of Exodus 20, "Honour thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with a promise," and of servants and masters, both under one Lord in heaven. Then: "Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil." The letter ends with a call to constant prayer and the sending of Tychicus.

Themes and the Catholic reading of Ephesians

The Church, Body and Bride of Christ. No book of the New Testament speaks more of the Church. She is Christ's Body, of which He is the Head (1:22-23; 4:15-16); His temple, built on the Apostles (2:20-22); His Bride, whom He cleanses "by the laver of water in the word of life," that she may be "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle" (5:26-27).

Challoner draws the consequence from 5:24: "The church then, according to St. Paul, is ever obedient to Christ, and can never fall from him." On 4:11 he notes that "Christ has left in his church a perpetual succession of orthodox pastors and teachers, to preserve the faithful in unity and truth." Pius XII built Mystici Corporis (1943) on this teaching. Our article on the four marks of the Church shows how "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" became a mark of the true Church.

Grace and good works. "For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God; Not of works, that no man may glory" (2:8-9). Challoner explains "not of works" as meaning "as of our own growth, or from ourselves; but as from the grace of God," and the next verse adds that we are created "in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them." This is the Catholic doctrine of sanctifying grace: justification is God's free gift, which makes us truly new. The Council of Trent describes it in the words of 4:23, as being "renewed in the spirit of our mind" (Session VI, ch. 7).

Marriage, a great sacrament. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the church" (5:31-32, citing Genesis 2). In the Vulgate, Sacramentum hoc magnum est.

The Council of Trent (Session XXIV) quotes this passage to teach that Christ merited the grace that perfects the natural love of husband and wife, as do Leo XIII in Arcanum (1880) and Pius XI in Casti Connubii (1930). The Fathers read the same passage in figure: as Eve was formed from the side of the sleeping Adam, the Church was formed from the side of Christ asleep on the Cross, whence flowed blood and water, the sacraments (St Augustine, Tractates on St John, 9). See our article on Catholic marriage.

The spiritual combat. "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places" (6:12). The armour of truth, justice and salvation echoes Isaias 59, where the Lord Himself "put on justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head." Our article on the spiritual combat shows how the saints fought this war.

The Fathers wrote much on this Epistle: St John Chrysostom preached twenty-four homilies on it, St Jerome wrote a commentary in three books, and St Thomas Aquinas and Cornelius a Lapide gave it full commentaries.

Famous verses and chapters from Ephesians

Ephesians 2:8-10. "For by grace you are saved through faith... For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works" (Ephesians 2).

Ephesians 3:20. "Now to him who is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3).

Ephesians 4:26 and 4:32. "Be angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Give not place to the devil," and "be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ" (Ephesians 4); see what the Church teaches about anger.

Ephesians 5:18. "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury; but be ye filled with the holy Spirit" (Ephesians 5): drunkenness, not wine, is condemned.

Ephesians 5:22-33. "Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord... Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church", set within "being subject one to another, in the fear of Christ" (5:21).

Ephesians 6:10-17, the armour of God. "Finally, brethren, be strengthened in the Lord... having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: In all things taking the shield of faith... And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God)" (Ephesians 6).

Ephesians in the canon and in the liturgy

Ephesians bears the same name in Catholic and Protestant Bibles and has the same six chapters in all of them. It is the tenth book of the New Testament, coming after the four Gospels, Acts, Romans, the two Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians. It was never disputed: the Councils of Rome (382), Hippo (393), Carthage (397), Florence and Trent (Session IV, 1546) list it among the Epistles of Paul. Written in Greek, it reached the West in the Latin of the Vulgate, from which the Douay-Rheims Bible was translated.

In the 1962 Roman Missal, Ephesians gives the Epistle of the Third Sunday of Lent (5:1-9), of the Feast of the Sacred Heart (3:8-12, 14-19), of the Vigil of the Ascension and of Sts Simon and Jude (4:7-13), of St Thomas the Apostle (2:19-22), of the Nuptial Mass (5:22-33), and of five Sundays after Pentecost: the Sixteenth (3:13-21), Seventeenth (4:1-6), Nineteenth (4:23-28), Twentieth (5:15-21) and Twenty-first (6:10-17), the armour of God. In the Roman Breviary it is begun at Matins on the Wednesday of the third week after the Epiphany, after Galatians. Follow these days in our liturgical calendar and pray them in the Breviary.

How to read the Book of Ephesians

Read it in one sitting first, to see the movement from doctrine to duty. Then read Colossians beside it, since each letter explains the other. Go slowly through chapters 1 to 3, whose sentences are long and dense, with the Vulgate beside the English, and return to chapter 6 in time of temptation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Book of Ephesians?

St Paul the Apostle, who names himself in the first verse and again in 3:1. St Polycarp, St Ignatius of Antioch and St Irenaeus received it as his, and the Church has always counted it among his fourteen Epistles. Many modern scholars attribute it to a disciple, but the Church receives it as the Apostle's own.

When was the Book of Ephesians written?

About AD 61-63, during St Paul's first imprisonment at Rome. Challoner dates it "about twenty-nine years after our Lord's Ascension," and the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 places it between 58 and 63, at the same time as Colossians and Philemon.

Where was Paul when he wrote the Book of Ephesians?

He was a prisoner in Rome, under guard in his own lodging (Acts 28:30). He calls himself "the prisoner of Jesus Christ" and "an ambassador in a chain" (Ephesians 3:1; 6:20), and sent the letter by his companion Tychicus.

Who was the Book of Ephesians written to?

To the Christians of Ephesus, the chief city of the Roman province of Asia, where Paul had preached for about three years. Because a few early manuscripts omit "at Ephesus," many Catholic commentators think it was also meant for the neighbouring Churches of Asia, as a circular letter.

What is the Book of Ephesians about, and what are its main themes?

It is about God's plan to unite all things in Christ and the Church that is His Body. Chapters 1–3 teach our election, redemption by Christ's blood, salvation by grace and the union of Jews and Gentiles in one Church; chapters 4–6 teach unity, the new life of the baptized, Christian marriage, and the armour of God.

How many chapters and verses are in the Book of Ephesians?

The Book of Ephesians has 6 chapters and 155 verses, in the Douay-Rheims, the Latin Vulgate and Protestant Bibles alike. You can read every chapter here, beginning with Ephesians 1, Latin and English side by side.

Why was the Book of Ephesians written?

St Paul wrote it to strengthen the faithful of Ephesus and the neighbouring Churches in the faith they had received, and to guard them against false teachers. Its deeper purpose is to show them the dignity of their Christian calling and the oneness of the Church, in which Jew and Gentile are made one Body in Christ.

Read the whole Epistle to the Ephesians verse by verse, Latin and English, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The Epistle to the Ephesians, Latin Vulgate and Douay-Rheims (Challoner revision, 1749-1752), with Challoner's preface and notes; St Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians 12; St Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians; St Irenaeus, Against Heresies V; St John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Ephesians; St Jerome, Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians; St Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of St John; St Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians; Cornelius a Lapide, Commentaria in Epistolam ad Ephesios; Council of Trent, Session IV (1546), Session VI, Decree on Justification (1547), and Session XXIV, Doctrine on the Sacrament of Matrimony (1563); Leo XIII, Arcanum (1880); Pius XI, Casti Connubii (1930); Pius XII, Mystici Corporis (1943); The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), "Epistle to the Ephesians"; Missale Romanum (1962); Breviarium Romanum (1962).