Letter from...? Who wrote Ephesians?

About the Author

Paul is writing as an Apostle, someone who was commissioned and sent to preach the gospel. Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of Christians who was converted when he had a vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus, is called an apostle. Many today refer to him as the Apostle Paul.

That means this letter to the Ephesians isn’t a first century tweet or blog by someone who has a half-baked opinion on something vaguely topical.

It’s also not a straightforward historical account of the “horrid Ephesians” for us to pore over at our leisure to learn about a different time and culture, then to put down and forget about.

Paul did not volunteer to be an Apostle. He wasn’t appointed by a church or religious organisation. 
The Apostleship of Paul has its authority in the will of God; he was chosen and commissioned by
Jesus Christ himself.

“This is no private individual venting his personal opinions, this isn’t even a gifted but fallible t
eacher or speaker, nor is it even the memoirs of the churches greatest missionary hero. But an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and therefore as a teacher whose authority is precisely the authority
of Jesus Christ himself, in whose name and by whose inspiration he writes”.

So as we read, we sit up, listen, take note and take action.