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Ephesians i. 3–;14 and I Peter I. 3–12

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

J. Coutts
J. Coutts
Affiliation:
Alton, Hants
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Extract

In this paper I wish to maintain that behind the two passages, Eph. i. 3–14 and I Pet. i. 3–12, lie forms of liturgical prayer, similar in structure, though not identical in content. I shall argue that the relation between each passage and the form which lies behind it is the same, namely that what we have is homily based on a form of prayer, and to some extent reproducing its words. Taken by itself, the evidence for the Ephesians passage is, I think, much stronger. It is possible there, with some show of plausibility, to restore, in its main outline, and some of its details, the original form. When taken together, the two passages add strength to each other.

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Articles
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New Testament Studies , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , January 1957 , pp. 115 - 127
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1957

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page 115 note 1 A comparison between the vocabulary of the two passages is instructive. In the following lists, words occurring more than once are counted more than once. Compounds and cognate forms are counted as equivalent, and the form in which the word appears in the other epistle is given in brackets. Numbers beside a word show how many times it occurs.

(a) Of sixty-eight significant words in Eph. i. 3–14, twenty-eight are represented in I Pet. i. 3–12. ⋯γάπη, ήγαπημένος (⋯γαπάω) άγιος (2), δόξα (3), ἔπαινος (3), εύαγγέλιον (εύαγγελίӡομαι), εύλογητός, εύλογέω, εύλογία (εύλογητός), θεός, καιρός, κληρονομία, κύριος, ούρανός, οὐρανός, ⋯πουράνιος, πατήρ, πιστεύω (I Pet. i. 8 and πίστις (3)), πνεῡμα (I Pet. (2)), προελπίӡω (⋯λπίς), σωτηρία (I Pet. (3)), χάρις (2), καριτóω.

(b) Fifteen words in Eph. i. 3–14 are represented in the rest of I Peter. αΪμα, άκούω,* άλήθεια, άμωμος, άνακεΦαλαιόω (I Pet. ii. 7 κεπαλή), έκλέγομαι (I Pet. i. 1, ii. 4, 6, 9 έκλεκτóς), θέλημα (3), καταβολή, κληρόω, κόσμος, λόγος, περιποίησις, πνευματικός.

Eph. i. 13 ⋯κούσαντες τòν λόγον ⋯ληθείας…

I Pet. i. 22 ⋯ν τῇ ὑπακοῇ αληθείας…

(c) Twenty-five words appear in Eph. i. 3–14 but not in I Peter. άπολ⋯τρωοις (2), ⋯ρρσβών, ἄϕεσις, βουλή, ⋯παγγελία, εὐδοκία (2), μυστήριον, οἰκονομία,* παράπτωμα, περισσεύω, πλήρωμα,(2),προτίθηυι, πρόθεσις, σοφία υΙοθεσία, φρόνησις.

οἰκονόμος I Pet. iv. 10.

(d) Of seventy-seven significant words in I Peter i. 3–12, twenty-seven appear in Eph. i. 3–14. ⋯γαπάω, ἂγιος, δόξα (2), δοξάӡω, ⋯λπίς, ἔπαινος, εύαγγελίӡομαι, εὐλογητός, θεός, καιρός (2), κληρονομία, κύριος, ούρανός (2), πατήρ, πίστις (3), πιστεύω, (2)σωτηρία (3), Χάρις.

(e) Seventeen words in I Peter i. 3–12 are represented in the rest of Ephesians. άποκαλύπτω (2), ἄγγελος, άμάραντος, (άφθαρσία), δοxιμάӡω, δοκίμιος, δύναμις, ἕλεος, κομίӡω, λυπέομαι, νεκρός, ποικίλος, (πολυποίκιλος), προμαρτύρομαι (μαρτύρομαι), προϕήτης, προϕήτης, προϕητεύω, τηρέω, ψυχή.

(f) Thirty-three words appear in I Pet. i. 3–12, not in Ephesians: άγαλλιάω (2), ⋯μίαντος, ⋯ναγγέλλω, έξερευνάω, ἔσχατος, ἓτοιμος, εύρίσκω, òράω (2), πάθημα, παρακύπτω, πειρασμός, τέλος, τιμή, πολύτιμος, ϕρουρέω, χαρά, χρυσίον

page 116 note 1 Apart from the three passages just cited, εύλογητός occurs five times in the N.T. At Mark xiv. 61 in the question which the High Priest puts to our Lord, it is a periphrasis for the divine name. At Rom. i. 25, ix. 5, II Cor. xi. 31 it occurs in the phrase εύλογητός εἰς τοὺς as a stereotyped ejaculation of praise at the mention of God's works and power similar to the ejaculation ‘Blessed is He’ in Rabbinic literature. At Luke i. 68 εύλογητός appears as the opening word of the Benedictus, and there it reproduces a phrase from Ps. xl. 14, lxxi. 18, cv. 48 in LXX.

page 117 note 1 The bulk of this paper was written before I came across Dr Walter Lock's note on i. 3–14. (‘The Epistle to the Ephesians’, Westminster Commentaries, p. 17.) ‘The whole paragraph rises to a poetical level, falling into three stanzas with a slightly varying refrain: … The triple nature springs from the desire to recognize the work of the Father, of Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit’.

page 118 note 1 At John iii. 15, if the reading έν αύτῷ is correct, it is probably to be taken with the words ἔχῃӡω⋯ν αἰώνιον which follow. (Cf. Vincent Taylor: The Gospel according to St Mark, p. 167.)

page 119 note 1 The First Epistie of Peter, p. 66.

page 119 note 2 The First Epistle of St Peter, p. 136.

page 121 note 1 In considering whether a phrase is Pauline, it is clearly necessary to exclude parallels with phrases in Colossians.

άφεσις in the Paulines only here and Col. i. 14 where it appears in the phrase ἄϕεσιςἄϕεσις παραπτωμάτων occurs only here in the N.T., but άφεσις τ⋯ν άμαρτι⋯ν eleven times, Matt. 1, Mark 1, Luke 3, Acts 5, Col. 1. άφιέναι with παρατώματα three times, Matt. vi. 14, 15, Mark xi. 25.

άπολύτρωσις, excluding Ephesians and Colossians, appears only at Rom. iii. 24, viii. 23, I Cor. i. 30. Also at Luke xxi. 28, Heb. ix. 15, xi. 35.

αιμα used of the blood of Christ as a factor in salvation occurs in the Paulines, excluding references to the Eucharist, and one reference in Col. i. 20, only at Rom. iii. 25, v. 9. The frequent use of αιμα in a sacrificial sense belongs to Hebrews and Revelation. But αιμα and άπολύτρωσις occur in close proximity at Rom. iii. 24–5.

page 122 note 1 τ⋯ν λόγον άληθείας.

άγήθεια is frequent in Paulines, Pastorals, the Johannine writings and in James. It occurs once in I Peter.

λόγος used as a synonym for the Gospel is frequent in Acts. If we exclude all cases in which there is doubt about the interpretation, it occurs some thirty times, i.e. about once in three pages of Nestle's text (Stuttgart, 1936). Its use in the Paulines is more difficult to assess. Outside Ephesians and Colossians, there are probably eleven instances, about one in ten pages (I Cor. i. 18, xiv. 36; II Cor. ii. 17, iv. 2; Gal. vi. 6; Phil. i. 14, ii. 16; I Thess. i. 6, 8, ii. 13 (once only), II Thess. iii. 1. I exclude Rom. ix. 6; I Cor. ii. 4, xv. 2; II Cor. i. 18, v. 19, vi. 7). It occurs frequently in the Pastorals, one to four pages; James, one to two and a half; I Peter, one to three, I John, one to three or four, Revelation, one to nine. It occurs in the synoptic Gospels, though of twenty-seven instances, eighteen occur in the explanation of the parable of the sower. We cannot call its use specially characteristic of St Paul. Apart from Ephesians and Colossians, the phrase ό λόγος άληθείας does not occur in the Paulines. (II. Cor. vi. 7 is of doubtful meaning.) But it occurs once in the Pastorals, II Tim. ii. 15, and once in Ja. i. 18.

τ⋯ εὐαγγέλιον σωτηρίας.

The vast majority of instances of the use of εύαγγέλιον in the N.T. occur in the Paulines, fifty-seven, fifty-one if we exclude Ephesians and Colossians; four more come from the Pastorals. But there are eight instances in Mark (four in parallel passages in Matthew), and one in I Peter. Perhaps we might say that the word is represented in the Petrine as well as the Pauline tradition. There are two instances in Acts, nicely balanced, one coming from a speech which purports to be by St Peter, one from a speech which purports to be by St Paul (Acts xv. 7, xx. 24). Nowhere but in the present passage is εύαγγελίον combined with σωτηρία. σωτηρία occurs sixteen times in the Paulines, outside the present passage, but, page for page, twice as frequently in Hebrews, and three times as frequently in I Peter.

page 122 note 2 See footnote 2, p. 123.

page 123 note 1 Cf. Rom. viii. 23 υἱοθείαν άπεκδεχόμενοι, τ⋯ν άπολύτρωσινσώμστος (Heb. xi. 35 ού προσδεξάμενοι τ⋯ν άπολύτρωσιν). At Rom. viii. 23, Luke xxi. 28 άπολύτρωσις is something future for Christians.

page 123 note 2 It is interesting to review the omissions in the light of our previous word lists. The passage 7b–10 is the most substantial passage to be omitted. It contains ten of the twenty-five words which are not found in I Peter, and the majority of the words are preponderantly Pauline.

Not, of course, specially Pauline.

γνωρίӡω This is found twice in Luke's account of the nativity, Luke ii. 15, 17; thrice in the last discourses in John; once in Acts in a quotation from Ps. xvi. 11; eighteen times in the Paulines, six of them in Ephesians and three in Colossians.

μυστήριον This is found at Mark iv. 11 and parallels; twice in I Timothy; four times in Revelation; nineteen times in the Paulines, of which six are from Ephesians, four from Colossians.

μυστήριον is found three times in Luke xvi. 1–8; once in I Timothy; once in I Corinthians; three times in Ephesians and once in Colossians.

περισσεύω occurs twelve times in the four Gospels, five times in the accounts of the feeding miracles; at Mark xii. 44/Luke xxi. 4, at Matt. xiii. 12/xxv. 29, and at Matt. v. 20, Luke xii. 15, xv. 17; once in Acts; twenty-six times in the Paulines, once in Ephesians and once in Colossians.

πλήρωμα occurs four times in the Synoptics, Matt. ix. 16/Mark, ii. 21, Mark vi. 43 and viii. 20 in the feeding miracles; once in John; twelve times in the Paulines, of which four are from Ephesians and two from Colossians.

πλο⋯τος occurs three times in the Synoptics, Matt. xiii. 22/Mark iv. 19/Luke viii. 14; once in I Timothy, Hebrews, James; twice in Revelation; in all these instances except once in Revelation it is used literally. It occurs fourteen times in the Paulines, never in the literal sense. Of these, five are from Ephesians and two from Colossians.

προτίθεμαι found only at Rom. 1. 13, iii. 25 and Eph. i. 9.

σοφία Ten times in the synoptics; four times in Acts, all in connexion with the career of Stephen; four times in James; once in II Peter; four times in Revelation; twenty-eight times in the Paulines, of which fifteen occur in the passage I Cor. i. 17-ii. 13, three in Ephesians, six in Colossians.

φρύνησις only at Luke i. 17, Ephesians i. 8.

v. 11, in the omitted portion, contains προορίӡω (but this is also found at v. 5), πρόθεσις (apart from references to shewbread, twice in Acts, twice in Romans, twice in Ephesians, twice in II Timothy), and ένεργειῑν (twice in the Synoptics, Matt. xiv. 2 = Mark vi. 14, once in James, eighteen times in the Paulines of which four come from Ephesians, one from Colossians).

v. 14 άρραβών drops out (Paulines only).

In our reconstruction έπαγγελία drops out; we replace βουλή by εύδοκία.

The list of words not found in I Peter but included in our reconstructed version is ⋯πολύτρωσις (2), ἄϕεσις, εύδοκία (3), παράπτωμα, προορίӡω (1), σϕραγίӡω, υἱοθεσία. Of these, σϕραγίӡω, υἱοθεσία are confined to Paulines. προοίӡω outside Paulines, only once, in Acts, but όρίӡω relatively common.

From the list of words common to both passages we lose άγάπη, ἄγιος (1), καιρός, κληρονομία (but we restore it again), οὐρανός, προελπίӡω, χάρις (once).

From the list of words found in our passage and elsewhere in I Peter, we ἄμωμος and άνακεφαλαιόω (this latter word, in this form, being Pauline only).

Thus of forty-four significant words in the reconstruction which are taken from the original (including κληρονομία), twenty-two are represented in the passage from I Peter, and thirteen elsewhere in I Peter.

page 124 note 1 Possibly for this line something like the following should be substituted: έν ᾧ 〈⋯βούλευσσς〉 τ⋯ πάντα.

page 125 note 1 εὐδοκία for βουλή.

page 125 note 2 Note in Gal. iii. 23–iv. 7 υΙός, υιοθεσία, πίστις, κλήρωμαχρόνου.

page 125 note 3 Paul and his Predecessors, pp. 25–30.

page 125 note 4 Flemington, , The New Testament Doctrine of Baptism, p. 66, where the opinions of Lietzmann, E. F. Scott and W. L. Knox are cited.Google Scholar

page 127 note 1 New Testament Studies, vol. 1, pp. 42 ff.

page 127 note 2 Hunter, A. M., op. cit. pp. 44–5.Google Scholar