Trevin Wax's gucci little book Holy Subversion advocates the "Ephesian Road" of salvation. Any ways, messianic Jewish author Derek Leman, has some good reflections on this theme following on from Wax. Very interesting is how the pronouns in Ephesians 1 seem to contrast "we" (Jews") with "you" (Gentiles) and this adds a significant dimension to the study of election, inheritance, and sharing in commonwealth of Israel.
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3 comments:
What is the scholarly consensus on who the "we"/"us" are? I've always read that as Paul and the Ephesians (meaning all Christians), but then why does he then switch to "you", for things that would include all Christians as well?
Todah rabbah, Michael. I always appreciate your work here and thanks for the link. The newer Messianic Judaism (the name Hashivenu Messianic Judaism is growing as a consensus) is at home as a bridge between the worlds of Judaism and Christianity. It is refreshing to see the vast improvement in Jewish-Christian relations in the academy and in the pews.
Derek Leman
I was first introduced to the issue of pronouns in Ephesians taking John McRay's Eph course at Wheaton Grad school in 1997. It was the first time I heard it and was initially skeptical since I had never heard anyone point this out. Since then I have become increasingly convinced that he was right and that the same phenomenon can be traced in Gal 3 and 4. By the way, McRay's view can be found now in his uneven introduction to Paul: Paul: His Life and Teaching. There is gold to be mined in that book.
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