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Eph 1:1. Θελήματος, the will) So Eph 1:5; Eph 1:9; Eph 1:11.-τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσι‚ καὶ πιστοῖς, to the saints and faithful, who are) in all those places to which Tychicus went with this epistle. It appears from the records quoted in the Apparatus, that no city was mentioned by name[1] in this inscirption, whence some have supplied Laodicea (although all that had a separate reference to the Laodiceans, was explained by Paul in the epistle written to the Colossians about the same time, ch. Eph 4:15-16); others, Ephesus: either of them might be before the mind of the apostle; for Paul no doubt told Tychicus whither he should go,-to Laodicea, for example, and thence to Colosse, which was in the neighbourhood of Laodicea, and either first or last to Ephesus. Wherefore our annotations are now and then specially applicable to the Ephesians. Nevertheless, in this passage, τοῖς οὖσιν, i.e. those who are present,[2] is said absolutely, as Act 13:1, κατὰ τὴν οὖσαν ἐκκλησίαν, in the church that was at Antioch; and Rom 13:1, αἱ δὲ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι, and the powers that be [the existing powers]. Paul, when writing to the churches planted by himself, generally mentions many circumstances concerning present and former events, having reference to himself or the churches; but he had been at Ephesus, and that too for a long time, not many years before, Act 20:31. Why then does he write as a person unknown, Eph 1:15, ch. Eph 3:2; Eph 3:4? and why does he descend less to particulars in this epistle, than in any other? Why, at ch. Eph 6:23-24, does he conclude in the third, and not in the second person, as he always does on other occasions? Why does he add no salutations, which, however, he does not omit even in the case of the Colossians? Why does he not mention Timothy, whom, however, he joins with himself, Col 1:1? For, the close resemblance of the style of writing [the texture of composition] in both, the same mention in both of their bearer, Tychicus, and many other circumstances, confirm the fact, that each of these epistles, this and the one to the Colossians, was sent at one time. Why does he only call them brethren at ch. Eph 6:10? Ans. All these things are indeed proofs, that Paul so drew up the whole letter, that it might be publicly read, or privately perused, both at Ephesus and in many of the churches of Asia, to which, as having been perhaps pointed out to him by name, Tychicus would go, and that all might receive it as if it had been addressed to themselves; comp. Col 4:16; 1Th 5:27. So far as this matter was concerned, full liberty (a carta bianca) was granted. “We must observe,” says Usher, at A. M. 4068, “that, in some ancient copies, this epistle was inscribed in general terms, as was usually done in writing evangelical letters, to the saints who are … and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: as if it had been sent first to Ephesus, as the principal metropolis of Asia, and was thence to be transmitted to the other churches of the same province, with the insertion of the name of each, etc.” It may be said: Paul wrote this epistle before he had seen the Ephesians. Ans. He had formerly [previous to his visit to Ephesus, Acts 19; Acts 20.] suffered no bonds so well known and so long, Act 16:35; Act 18:10; but these, which he mentions [in this epistle], were remarkable and distinguished, Eph 3:13; Eph 6:20. As regards the rest of the inscription, holiness is put before faith, Eph 1:4; Eph 1:11-12, where also the word κληροῦσθαι is before hope;[3] moreover, at 2Th 2:13; 1Pe 1:2. It belongs to God to sanctify [set apart as holy to Himself] and claim us to Himself; to us, according to the gift of God, to believe.
[1] Lachm. reads ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, with AD(Δ)Gfg Vulg. and marg. of B corrected later; but B omits it, and Jerome, 7, 545a, attests that Origen did not know of the words. Basil mentions that old fathers before his time in some ancient copies omitted them. Marcion in Tertullian is accused of having added ad Laodicenos. Jerome says, that some suppose the saints at Ephesus were addressed by a title, or “vocabulum essentiœ, so that those who are should be so called from Him who is;” whilst others read simply “those who are at Ephesus.”-ED.
[2] The saints that there are.-ED.
[3] προηλπικότας, which Engl. Vers. renders trusted, instead of hope.-ED.