In his address to the Ephesians, Paul uses a commandment given at Mt. Sinai and restated in Deuteronomy. The letter is mostly about relationships and the “family according to God’s originally intended design for it.”^[1] Paul is using a quote from the Old Testament law for instructing the New Testament Ephesians, that can be interpreted by us the same way.

     In Ephesians 6:2-3 Paul could have been quoting Exodus 20:12 or Deuteronomy 5:16.^[2] Which of these he had in mind is not clear. The original audience of the Exodus passage are the Israelites three months after they left the land of Egypt. The audience of the Deuteronomy passage is the Israelite nation that is about to cross over the Jordan river and enter Canaan.

     Paul’s audience was different from the audience in either of the Old Testament passages. The Israelites had been together as a nation for many years.^[3] The Ephesians were going against all that they had grown up with to create a new family in Christ. They were like the Israelites in that they were both on a journey. The Israelites were on the verge of entering the Promised land in Deuteronomy. The church at Ephesus was on a journey into unknown territory by changing from centuries of worshiping as their parents had to a new way of worshipping God. The way that accepted Jesus as the Son of God and the Christ. The church at Ephesus was a truth-seeking rule following church that Paul wanted to build up with words of direction from the Israelite law. He used this quote to instruct the church in a didactic way that was not tied to a time or place.^[4] In writing the letter Paul was not specific.^[5] It was not written to a specific person, time, or place, other than the mention of Ephesus in the introduction. This causes many scholars to question whether Paul wrote it, or that he wrote the letter to all the churches and this copy was to Ephesus.

     Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus to help them in their relationships with each other.^[6] The relationship of children and parents is important among these. In this letter he wrote for the education of the people that they might increase their knowledge, spiritual power, and strengthen their lives.^[7] He makes the passage applicable to the New Testament times by changing the local and limited reference to the Jews in Canaan.^[8] He does not have anything to reprimand the church for so this letter is unlike any other. He teaches on a subject for the education of the people only.^[9]

     We can use the same principles to bring the Old Testament law into the twenty-first century (Romans 6:15, NKJ).^[10] Paul was reading these passages to say that the land in the promise of the commandment, was any land of the believer that he called home.^[11] He affirms the distinction between the Old Testament form of the law and the moral substance of the law that is to be used in New Testament times.^[12] This moral substance, which is the undergirding theological principles of the Old Testament law, remains and it is only the civil and ceremonial aspects that are superseded by New Testament teaching.^[13]

     Paul is not using Typology here to bring the message of the original verse to the people of Ephesus. He is quoting the Fourth Commandment from the Old Testament law (Exod. 20:12; Deut. 5:16).^[14]

     The differences are not as great as the similarities between the original audience and Paul’s audience. Paul is teaching on relationship and behavior so he uses the original source.^[15] Paul is using a reference to Old Testament law that is timeless to edify the Ephesians in Godly family relations.

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^[1] Richard J. Erickson, “Ephesians,” in Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, vol. 3, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1995), 1021.

^[2] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern, 1937), 647.

^[3] Eugene H. Merrill, Deuteronomy, vol. 4, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 26.

^[4] Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton, A Survey of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 71.

^[5] John Peter Lange et al., A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 5.

^[6] Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 341.

^[7] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern, 1937), 336.

^[8] Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 356.

^[9] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern, 1937), 328; Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 341.

^[10] Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 356.

^[11] John Peter Lange et al., A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 212.

^[12] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern, 1937), 649.

^[13] Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton, A Survey of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 72; Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 356.

^[14] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern, 1937), 647; Richard J. Erickson, “Ephesians,” in Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, vol. 3, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1995), 1031.

^[15] Eugene H. Merrill, Deuteronomy, vol. 4, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 31.

Bibliography

Erickson, Richard J. “Ephesians.” In Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, 3:1020. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1995.

Hill, Andrew E., and John H. Walton. A Survey of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009.

Jamieson, Robert, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Vol. 2. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997.

Lange, John Peter, Philip Schaff, Karl Braune, and M. B. Riddle. A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008.

Lenski, R. C. H. The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians. Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern, 1937.

Merrill, Eugene H. Deuteronomy. Vol. 4. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994.