Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Ephesians 1:15-23, Far above every name that is invoked
Paul prays that the believers will know the hope, the inheritance and the power God showed when he raised Christ and seated him above every ruler, authority, power and name, in this age and the next.
Ephesians 1:15-23, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul tells them he keeps thanking God for them and asks that they come to understand three things: the hope God has called them to, the wealth of what he will give, and how great his power is. That is the power that brought Jesus back to life and set him on the throne beside God, higher than every spiritual ruler and every name anyone could call on, now or later. For readers used to calling on many powers, this put Christ above every one of them, with the church as his body.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/powers-over-the-nations\/","n":"Rulers and powers over the nations","s":"Many Jews believed each nation had a spiritual ruler set over it, often hostile to God's people. Paul's rulers, authorities, powers and thrones belong to that picture.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/magic-and-sorcery\/","n":"Magic and sorcery","s":"Spells, charms and incantations were sold and used across the ancient world, by Jews as well as pagans, and many feared the evil eye. People told a sorcerer, who worked in secret and for pay, from a holy man who acted openly.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/fate-and-the-stars\/","n":"Fate and the stars","s":"Most people in Paul's world believed their lives were ruled by Fate, worked out through the stars, which many took to be heavenly beings. Few thought there was any escape, and cults that promised one drew followers.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/present-age-and-age-to-come\/","n":"This age and the age to come","s":"Jews divided history into the present age, under the rule of evil nations, and the age to come, when God would rule unchallenged. The sufferings expected before the change were called birth pangs.","r":""}
Rule, authority, power and dominion were standard terms for the angelic powers thought to stand behind the nations (Keener and his notes); Arnold adds that some were Jewish words and others turn up in pagan magical and astrological texts. Heiser reads them as authority over geographical domains (Deuteronomy 32:8-9), while Arnold notes that Paul never ties the powers to a country. Magicians tried to control spirits by invoking their names, at Ephesus as elsewhere (Keener and his notes), and Arnold stresses that knowing the most powerful names lay at the heart of magic. He shows Artemis, the city's goddess, invoked by name in spells and argues that Ephesians gives a framework for answering her cult without naming her. Wright adds the imperial side: Ephesus was a center of imperial influence, and every ruler up to "the emperor himself" is put under Christ's feet (Psalm 8). To sit at a ruler's right hand was to hold the place of honor and authority (Psalm 110:1) (Keener and his notes). Jewish teachers held that the heavenly powers ruled every nation but Israel; Paul says those in Christ are raised above them (Keener).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Ephesians 1:19-20 and 1:21-23
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Ephesians 1:20 and 1:21
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 15, Cosmic Geography, and ch. 37, This Means War, Paul and the Deuteronomy 32 Worldview
- Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness, ch. 1, Magic and Divination, opening section and A Love Potion, ch. 6, What Are the Powers?, The Source of Paul's Vocabulary for the Powers and What Paul Does Not Say, ch. 7, The Supremacy of Christ (Eph 1:15-23), and ch. 15, Structural Evil: One First-Century Case Example
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters, comment on Ephesians 1:15-23
