Wilber Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. EDNT Horst Balz and Gerhard Schneider, eds., Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament EKKNT Evangelisch-katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament. JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JSJSup Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament.
JSNTSup Journal for Studiet af Det Nye Testamente Supplement Series JSOT Journal for Studiet af Det Gamle Testamente. JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series KBANT Commentaries and Contributions to the Old and New Testaments. SSEJC Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament.
Porter, "The Concept of Covenant in Paul," i The Concept of the Covenant in the Second Temple Period, red.
Louis Martyn. In a 1993 article, Louis Martyn argued that the reason
Further, this work will attempt to reveal the importance of the new covenant to Paul, in comparison to other biblical covenants. Further, which terms and concepts are closely aligned within the conceptual scope of the new covenant. There will be no such thing as an unregenerate member of the new covenant community.
At the heart of the new covenant is the covenant formula: “I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (v. 33d). 83The Qal perfect י ִת ַּת ָנ is a prophetic perfection to emphasize the sure guarantee of the promises of the new covenant. Complete forgiveness of sins is offered to Israel as part of the new covenant.
Both passages emphasize that the new age of Israel will merge with the inauguration of the everlasting covenant. Elements of soteriology and ecclesiology can therefore be easily distinguished within the promises of the new covenant. Many interpreters throughout church history, without seeing πνευματικῇ as a reference to the Spirit, have recognized that 1:3 describes the blessings of the new covenant.
The Blessing of Election (1:4-6)
The cumulative effect of these observations indicates that "every spiritual blessing" believers possess in Christ is an outpouring of God's faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham. For example, in Psalm 89 the Ezrahite Ethan, reflecting on God's covenant with David, summarizes the content of the Davidic covenant in verses 4-5 (Eng. Newman, "Selection and Predestination in Ephesians 1:4-6a: An Exegetical-Theological Study of the historical, Christological realization of God's purpose,” RevExp.
Nevertheless, the covenant concept is closely related if the choice involves God's election of his people or Israel's choice for him. The concept of election in the OT refers primarily to God's election of Israel.37 This is especially evident in Deuteronomy, where God, out of his love for the patriarchs, "chose" (רחב [ἐκλέγω LXX]) their descendants, resulting in their deliverance from Egypt and subsequent covenant at Sinai (4:37). It was not because Israel was a great nation that God “chose” them (רחב [ἐκλέγω LXX]), but God had chosen them out of all nations to be His beloved people, so they were holy to Him (14:2).
The implication of these references is that God chose Israel in order to establish a covenant relationship with them.38 The covenant ceremony of Exodus 19-24 is seen as a formalization of God's prior decision to direct his love to Israel. Ordinarily, election precedes covenant and is part of covenant, especially when election refers to God's relationship with Israel. In fact, God's election of his people in the OT is to be understood as God's decision to enter into and maintain a covenantal relationship with them.
As the Old Testament ends, Israel's future redemption is rooted in God's faithfulness to once again choose Israel and make a new covenant with them. 43 That God's election of believers took place "before the foundation of the world" should not be understood to mean that the new covenant existed from eternity past (against Westcott, Ephesians, 8), but only that God planned from eternity past to inaugurate a new covenant in Christ. Certainly love for God is emphasized in Ephesians, and the concept of election naturally includes God's special love for his people.
In Deuteronomy 7:6 the people are already referred to as "a people holy to the LORD your God" because of God's election (Deuteronomy 14:2, 21). In the same way that God chose to establish a covenant relationship with Israel, God's election of those in Christ indicates the presence of a covenant relationship.
The Blessing of Eschatological Forgiveness (1:7-10) (1:7-10)
Now all who are united to Christ, regardless of ethnicity, are full and equal members of the new covenant community. 85 Given the context of the divine plan, the intended wisdom and understanding are of God (cf. While it is true that God's wisdom is intimately connected with his revelation of the mystery, this does not mean that the two sentences are syntactically linked.
Such an emphasis on forgiveness in the last days indicates that the dawn of the new covenant. The fulfillment of these promises in the "fullness of time" shows the arrival of the new covenant in Christ. In the "fullness of time" he set forth his Son as the revelation of the cosmic mystery (vv. 9-10).
Many commentators believe that the description of the blood of Christ is rooted in traditional material (eg, Barth, Ephesians, 9; Schnackenburg, Ephesians, 56). Zech The promise of forgiveness of sins is not limited to a few Levitical sacrifices, but is one of the most important promises underlying the new covenant (Jer 31:34). As we saw in chapter 2, the promise of the new covenant was at the heart of “the fulness of time.”115.
The content of the riddle is probably expressed in 1:10 in the ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι infinitive sentence.116 The exact meaning of ἀνακεφαλαιόω has been debated. Since in chapter 2 the presence of the new covenant was part of the "fullness of time". Barth (Ephesians, 89-92) and Hoehner (Ephesians, 219-21) think both Christ's headship and unification of the cosmos are in prospect.
124 Caragounis (Ephesian Mysterion, 118) rightly argues that the mystery of 3:1-13 is a subset of the programmatic and cosmic mystery of 1:9-10. The presence of the article in ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ (v. 10) is perhaps significant, since Paul's normal usage is anarthrosis.
The Blessing of a Guaranteed Inheritance (1:11-14) (1:11-14)
The tribes of Israel were given a portion of the land as their inheritance (Jos 14-19), so that in Christ all believers have a share in the final inheritance. 133. The terms πρόθεσις, βουλή and θέλημα are synonyms, the repetition of which emphasizes that the blessing of inheritance is according to the divine plan (so Arnold, Ephesians, 90). As verse 13 says, he is the "Holy Spirit of Promise" (τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τὸ ἅγιον), which, as noted above, probably indicates God's promises.
But contrary to Westcott (Ephesians, 18), αὐτοῦ in 1:14 is no argument for περιποίησις being God's possession (rightly Ellicott, Ephesians, 20). The promise of forgiveness was one of the hallmarks of the new covenant that served as the basis for God's acceptance of His people (Jer 31:31). Paul's soteriological framework expressed in Ephesians 1:3-14 must therefore be understood within the framework of the new covenant.
It thus remains necessary to analyze other texts in Ephesians to determine the extent of the soteriological significance of the New Covenant to Paul. This is already an indication that Paul considers the Gentiles as full members of the new community of God. 27Scholars debate the exact meaning of the phrase “the circumcision of Christ.” For a good discussion of the possibilities, see Douglas J.
If the sign of the covenant is unimportant, so is the covenant of which it was a sign. For Paul, the end of time came with the coming of Christ and Moses. 30 Since circumcision was also a sign of the Abrahamic covenant, this covenant can also be considered fulfilled at the conclusion of the new covenant.
In the B-lines, the emphasis may be on the horizontal plight of the Gentiles, as the terms πολιτεία and διαθήκη have communal overtones. In Gal 3:14, the connection with Abraham is clear, because the "promise of the Spirit" is parallel to the "blessing of Abraham".
Specifically, Ephesians 2:13-18 seems to particularly resonate with the new covenant promise in Isaiah 49-57. If this is so, then it is likely that the new peace described by Paul includes Isaiah's new "covenant of peace" in Isaiah 54:10, especially since in Isaiah the new covenant comes from the death of the servant. But this is a doubtful reading of the text, since Isaiah's quotations frame vv.
Ross Wagner, Heralds of the Goo News: Isaiah an Paul “in Concert” in the Epistle to the Romans (Leiden: Brill, 2002). The proximity of Isaiah 52:7 to the Fourth Servant's Song shows that it is especially from the death of the servant that God's saving and ruling peace comes. Theodoret (Edwards, Ephesians, 139) mistakenly thinks of δόγματα as teachings of Christ by which the law was abolished.
This most likely refers to the Law of Moses as “written by hand,” as Paul in 2 Cor 3 spoke of the Old Testament as being associated with “a letter” (γράμμα, v. 6) and “written. One new man." The first consequence of Jesus' abolition of the law is peace with. God's people are now not only a continuation of historical Israel, but are
Of course, the promises God made to the patriarchs of Israel support the inclusion of Gentiles (Romans), but what Barth and others underestimate is the newness and eschatological character of the church (1 Cor 10:32), with Jesus as the last Adam and the head of the Similitude verbal difference between Romans and Ephesians is found in the singularity of the reference to Jesus as “one man.” More specifically, because of 1:7, it is likely that the reference to the blood of Jesus in 2:13 indicates that the Gentiles have received the promise of the new covenant of.
For a careful and sober treatment of the use of prepositions in the Greek New Testament, see Murray J. The repetition of the phrase ἔχθρα in 2:16 provides a link back to the enmity associated with the Mosaic Law covenant in 2: 14-15.
