The identification of Paul as author of the letter is exactly the same as that in Colossians 1.1, From Paul, who by God’s will is an apostle of Christ Jesus. In order to make certain that Paul is the author of this letter, it may be necessary in a number of languages to introduce the first person singular pronoun; for example, “I, Paul, write this letter.” Or else, “This is a letter from Paul.”
Paul’s status as an apostle of Christ Jesus is the result of God’s doing; it was God who made Paul an apostle (2 Cor 1.1; Col 1.1; 2 Tim 1.1 have the identical phrase; Rom 1.1 has “a called apostle,” and 1 Cor 1.1 “a called apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God”). Apostle is literally “messenger” and has the meaning of a representative, with the commission and authority to act in the name and on behalf of the one who has sent him; he is not simply one who delivers a message and nothing else.
The clause who by God’s will is an apostle of Christ Jesus may constitute several difficult problems for some translators. In some instances it may be necessary to employ a causative expression such as “God made me an apostle of Jesus Christ because that was what he wanted” or “God wanted me to be an apostle of Jesus Christ and made me such.”
In a number of languages an apostle of Christ Jesus is expressed as “one whom Jesus Christ has sent,” but frequently a more satisfactory equivalent is “a personal representative of Jesus Christ” or “one who represents Jesus Christ.” And in many languages it will be necessary to introduce a verb of “writing,” and therefore it may be appropriate to translate “I, Paul, write to God’s people in Ephesus.” In a few languages it may be difficult to use a possessive expression such as God’s people. In such instances one may sometimes use “people who worship God.”
As the footnotes in the Today’s English Version (Good News Translation) and Revised Standard Version (Revised Standard Version) show, there is considerable doubt over whether the words in Ephesus belong to the text. The United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament third edition (Good News Bible) includes them but places them within brackets, thereby indicating a high degree of doubt about their genuineness. One reason which is given for retaining the words, other than the manuscript evidence, is that “the letter has been traditionally known as ‘To the Ephesians,’ ” but this is not convincing. The manuscript evidence supporting their omission is strong; it includes the earliest copy known of Ephesians, the Chester Beatty papyrus (P46) of the third century A.D. And it is difficult to imagine a copyist omitting the words if they were in the copy he was using. It seems better to consider “in Ephesus” an addition to the text, as do Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible (Jerusalem Bible), Bible de Jérusalem (Bible de Jérusalem), Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), Moffatt, Goodspeed.
But it should be noted that with the omission of “in Ephesus” the Greek text reads literally “to the saints the ones being also faithful.” This is, to say the least, an unusual way to write in Greek, particularly because of the use of the participial phrase “the ones being.” Westcott, who holds to the Pauline authorship, states that it is not improbable that Paul should write “to the saints who are also faithful (believing) in Christ Jesus,” but one is inclined to agree with the judgment of Blass-Debrunner (B-D) that this construction “is impossible.” Barth classifies kai “and” here as epexegetical, equivalent to “namely” or “that is” in English, so that “the saints” are those “who are faithful to Messiah Jesus” (as Barth translates). This is also the opinion of Zuntz: “Tois ousin without an indication of place (as in Phil 1.1) following makes no sense; for it is, I submit, quite impossible to translate tois ousin kai pistois, as Professor Goodspeed does, by ‘who are steadfast.’ ” Zuntz believes the letter was a circular, with a blank space to be filled in with the place name. Bible de Jérusalem suggests that the words tois ousin may not have been original. After the participial phrase “those who are,” a place name is expected such as in Romans 1.7, “those who are in Rome,” and Philippians 1.1, “those who are in Philippi” (see also 1 Cor 1.2 and 2 Cor 1.1: “the church of God the one being in Corinth”). Such considerations lend weight to the suggestion accepted by many that this letter was written to be sent to various places, and that after the Greek phrase “who are,” a blank space was left which was to be filled in with the locality to which that particular copy was to be sent. Copies survived which had “in Ephesus” written in at that place, but it is difficult to account for the fact that some copies survived without any place name, and that no copy has survived with another place name in it.
The most practical solution for most translations, it would seem, is to follow Good News Translation, also the New International Version (New International Version), Phillips (Phillips), and many common language translations.
God’s people represents the Greek word (usually translated “the saints”) which is used throughout the New Testament as a designation of Christians in terms of the concept of the chosen people (Israel, in the Old Testament), those who belong exclusively to God by his sovereign choice and determination; in these contexts the word does not have the idea of “holy” or “saintly,” which refers to moral and spiritual qualities. Some translations have the phrase “the people who serve (or, worship) God.”
Faithful applies to the readers’ faithfulness in their Christian life, the degree to which they have remained loyal followers of Christ Jesus. Some take the word here to mean “believers” (so New English Bible [New English Bible], “believers incorporate in Christ Jesus”), but most translate faithful, loyal, steadfast. In a number of languages faithful can be effectively expressed in a negative way; for example, “they never fail to,” or in the broader context of the clause in which faithful occurs, “who, as they are joined with Jesus Christ in their life, never give up” or “… always remain firm.”
The phrase that follows, “in Christ Jesus,” may be taken to mean, as elsewhere, in their life in union with Christ Jesus (compare Westcott, Murray); simply to translate “faithful in Christ Jesus” (Revised Standard Version) does not communicate much meaning, and the simple “loyal Christians” (Barclay [Barclay]) or “faithful Christians” (Phillips) does not seem sufficient. The Translator’s New Testament (Translator’s New Testament) “who belong to Christ Jesus” and the French common language translation (Bible en français courant) “who are faithful in union with Jesus Christ” better translate the meaning of the Greek phrase. In a number of languages it is difficult to translate a phrase such as in union with Christ Jesus, for such a relationship is complex. In some languages a figurative expression is used, such as “as they are tied to Christ Jesus” or “as they link themselves closely to Christ Jesus.” In other instances the most appropriate equivalent is “as they are one with Christ Jesus” or “as they are united with Christ Jesus.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .