Ephesians 1:15 to Ephesians 2:10. THANKSGIVING PASSING INTO PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL INSIGHT

This section corresponds to the section of thanksgiving which in all St Paul’s Epistles except Gal., 1 Tim. and Tit. follows directly after the salutation. Such a section (see Robinson’s Excursus, pp. 275 ff.) is often found in the familiar correspondence of the time as evidenced by the Egyptian papyri. In St Paul the delicate adaptation of the subjects chosen for thanksgiving to the circumstances of the persons whom he is addressing shows that his language is as far removed as possible from the formal and the conventional. In his letters the section helps to prepare the way for the teaching and even for the reproof that is to follow by its generous recognition of all that is best in his correspondents, and by bringing the whole of his communication with them from the first into the realized presence of God.

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Old Testament