negativity toward the Torah and Jewish distinctiveness. Rival apostles in Galatia sought to convince Paul’s converts that Christian faith required Torah piety, and they insisted that (male) Christians undergo circumcision in consonance with God’s instructions to Abraham in Gen 17. Paul angrily accuses these teachers of perverting the gospel (1.6–9), of being unprincipled and of demanding circumcision merely to avoid persecution (6.12), and to provide an occasion for boasting (6.13). Because these rivals attacked Paul’s apostolic credibility, Paul not only responds in kind, but offers an autobiographical defense of his beginnings in the faith and his relations with the pillars of the Jerusalem church (1.10–2.14). He also provides empirical proof for his legitimacy: after believing in Christ as Paul taught them, the Galatian Christians received the Holy Spirit and the ability to do miracles, gifts they did not receive by observing works of law (3.2–5).
This letter, prompted by the specific situation of the churches in Galatia, contains some of the most enduring and influential formulations of the Christian faith. Later Christians learned from this letter that Judaism, that is, the observance of the commandments of the Torah and the refusal to believe in Jesus as the son of God, had and has no value. In the sixteenth century this letter gave Protestant reformers the rhetoric of “faith vs. works” that they would turn against both Judaism and Roman Catholicism. In recent times scholars have softened the polemical edge of this letter by observing that Paul’s attack on the law was addressed to Gentile believers in Christ; his primary concern was to make sure that they did not begin to observe the Torah. Nowhere in his letters, either in Galatians or elsewhere, does Paul attempt to convince Jews to abandon the Torah.
Shaye J. D. Cohen
THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS
NAME
The letter to the Ephesians emphasizes the “mystery of God’s will” (1.9; 3.3–4,9; 5.32; 6.19) that Christ breaks down the “wall” of hostility between Jews and Gentiles (2.14). The text’s theme is unity, articulated in both cosmic terms and descriptions of Christian households.
AUTHORSHIP, LITERARY HISTORY, AND DATE
Traditionally, the letters to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon were assumed to have been written by Paul during his imprisonment in Rome (Acts 28.16–31), and were consequently called “captivity epistles.” The attribution of all of these to Paul, and the recognition that references to imprisonment and the imperial guard (e.g., Phil 1.7,13) do not necessarily mean imprisonment in Rome because there were detachments of the emperor’s guards at various places, have led most scholars to abandon this interpretation.
Despite the traditional title, therefore, and the references to sender and recipient in 1.1 (with further reference to the sender in 3.1), most scholars doubt that Ephesians is by Paul, and many doubt that it is in fact a letter. The similarity of this text to the letter to the Colossians, which is also of uncertain Pauline authorship, suggests a false attribution of authorship (known as pseudepigraphy); in addition, its theology and vocabulary do not reflect Paul’s concerns, especially in presenting resurrection as a current rather than a future event (2.1–2,6; cf. Rom 6.5–8; Phil 3.10–11). It mentions “heavenly places” (1.3,20; 2.6; 3.10; 6.12) and speaks of Christ as “the head” of the church, which is “his body” (1.22–23; 4.11,15–16), key theological expressions absent from the undisputed Pauline epistles. Nor does it deal with the relationship of the community to Torah, a major focus of Paul’s writings in Galatians and Romans. The text’s connection to Ephesus is also problematic: the words “in Ephesus” (1.1) are absent from some of the best early manuscripts. Defenders of Pauline authorship argue that the letter was written late in Paul’s
This letter, prompted by the specific situation of the churches in Galatia, contains some of the most enduring and influential formulations of the Christian faith. Later Christians learned from this letter that Judaism, that is, the observance of the commandments of the Torah and the refusal to believe in Jesus as the son of God, had and has no value. In the sixteenth century this letter gave Protestant reformers the rhetoric of “faith vs. works” that they would turn against both Judaism and Roman Catholicism. In recent times scholars have softened the polemical edge of this letter by observing that Paul’s attack on the law was addressed to Gentile believers in Christ; his primary concern was to make sure that they did not begin to observe the Torah. Nowhere in his letters, either in Galatians or elsewhere, does Paul attempt to convince Jews to abandon the Torah.
Shaye J. D. Cohen
THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS
NAME
The letter to the Ephesians emphasizes the “mystery of God’s will” (1.9; 3.3–4,9; 5.32; 6.19) that Christ breaks down the “wall” of hostility between Jews and Gentiles (2.14). The text’s theme is unity, articulated in both cosmic terms and descriptions of Christian households.
AUTHORSHIP, LITERARY HISTORY, AND DATE
Traditionally, the letters to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon were assumed to have been written by Paul during his imprisonment in Rome (Acts 28.16–31), and were consequently called “captivity epistles.” The attribution of all of these to Paul, and the recognition that references to imprisonment and the imperial guard (e.g., Phil 1.7,13) do not necessarily mean imprisonment in Rome because there were detachments of the emperor’s guards at various places, have led most scholars to abandon this interpretation.
Despite the traditional title, therefore, and the references to sender and recipient in 1.1 (with further reference to the sender in 3.1), most scholars doubt that Ephesians is by Paul, and many doubt that it is in fact a letter. The similarity of this text to the letter to the Colossians, which is also of uncertain Pauline authorship, suggests a false attribution of authorship (known as pseudepigraphy); in addition, its theology and vocabulary do not reflect Paul’s concerns, especially in presenting resurrection as a current rather than a future event (2.1–2,6; cf. Rom 6.5–8; Phil 3.10–11). It mentions “heavenly places” (1.3,20; 2.6; 3.10; 6.12) and speaks of Christ as “the head” of the church, which is “his body” (1.22–23; 4.11,15–16), key theological expressions absent from the undisputed Pauline epistles. Nor does it deal with the relationship of the community to Torah, a major focus of Paul’s writings in Galatians and Romans. The text’s connection to Ephesus is also problematic: the words “in Ephesus” (1.1) are absent from some of the best early manuscripts. Defenders of Pauline authorship argue that the letter was written late in Paul’s
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