Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at
Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Eph. 1:1.
The very
first verse of Ephesians brought a question. Are the saints and the faithful
two separate groups?
My
reasoning goes something like this: Paul is writing to his faithful
congregation at Ephesus (the saints he knew so well, as their guide and
teacher), but
he was expecting his message to be available for all the
faithful, all the known Christians at that time.
This reminds us of the fact that this letter has been read by countless numbers in
the world since it was distributed amongst the Ephesians. A comparison could be
made with the archives of The Mother Church's periodicals: we are still able
to consult articles and testimonies written more than a century ago, in the
Bound Volumes (of The Christian Science Journal and Sentinel) held at Christian Science Reading Rooms, and available on line
through JSH-Online.com. I consulted the 1907 Bound Volume in my Reading Room just
last week. Its leather binding left a mark on my jeans!
But,
that is not the way all scholars reason. For instance, the New Revised
Standard Version translates the verse: "To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus."
I like
my reasoning better!
Joyce Voysey
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