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Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

Introduction to Mark John Mark, son of Mary (Acts 12:12), has been universally recognized from the beginning as the author of the second gospel. He was a relative of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), and very likely a close associate of Peter (I Peter 5:13). He accompanied Paul and Barnabas for a time on their first missionary journey (Acts 12:25; 13:5,13), with his departure later causing a break between Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:36-40). Somehow he later became reconciled to Paul and became a profitable co-worker (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24: II Timothy 4:11). Since his mother was apparently the owner of the “upper room” where Jesus met with His disciples for the last supper, it is probable that Mark knew Jesus and may well have been one of his disciples, though not one of the twelve specially chosen. He also may well have gotten much of the information for his gospel from Peter. Many have considered the Gospel of Mark, which is the shortest of the four, to have been written first. He certainly wrote before the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, for that event was still future when he wrote (note Mark 13:1-2). There is an ancient tradition that he wrote mainly for the information of Roman believers. He did indeed place strong emphasis on the actions of Jesus, using the word “immediately” or some similar word at least forty times, and this would appeal to the action-oriented Romans.

Introduction to Luke Luke is called “the beloved physician” by Paul (Colossians 4:14) and is mentioned by Paul two other times by name. He is identified as one of Paul’s fellow laborers in Philemon 24 and was the only one remaining with Paul just before his martyrdom (II Timothy 4:11). Although Luke never mentions himself by name, either in his gospel or in the book of Acts, it was universally recognized by the early church that he was the human author of both of these books. He is believed to have been the only Gentile writer of a book of the Bible, since he was not included among those “who are of the circumcision” in Paul’s greetings to the Gentile Christians at Colosse (Colossians 4:9-11,14). Others, however, think he may have been a Jew of the dispersion. Luke was with Paul on some of his missionary journeys, as indicated by the various “we” passages in the book of Acts (Acts 16:10; 20:5,6; etc.). He seems to have been with Paul continually on his third missionary journey, except for the two years of his imprisonment at Caesarea. It may have been during those two years, while Luke was in Palestine and separated from Paul, that he was able to do the research and writing for his gospel. It must have been completed at least some time before Paul’s execution, for he terminated Acts while Paul was still being treated well under Roman house arrest (Acts 28:30-31). Acts, of course, was written after Luke’s gospel. Consequently, Luke, as well as Matthew and Mark, was written sometime around A.D. 60 (Paul’s martyrdom is believed to have taken place around A.D. 68). Luke addressed both his gospel and Acts to a Greek man named Theophilus (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1), evidently a man of some culture and influence, but otherwise unknown. This fact lends weight to the traditional belief that Luke was written mainly with his Greek brethren in mind, emphasizing the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus. His analysis seems somewhat more topical than Matthew’s more sequentially ordered narrative. Luke writes in a very articulate literary style, and archaeological research has confirmed that he was a careful historian. His medical background frequently comes through also. He includes many events and teachings not found in the other synoptics, and these seem to reflect his social consciousness as well as concern for individuals. Most of all, however, he focuses on the Son of man and His great mission “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

1:3 me also. Although he never mentions himself by name, the church fathers and uniform tradition agree that Luke, Paul’s “beloved physician,” was the author of both this gospel and the book of Acts (see Colossians 4:14; II Timothy 4:11; Philemon 24).

28:16 to dwell by himself. Luke could not stay with Paul any longer, but undoubtedly was allowed to visit him, as were many others (Acts 28:30). Luke is mentioned in Paul’s epistles to Philemon and to the Colossians, which were written during this period. Even though Nero was emperor at this time, he had not yet shown his true character. Paul was still treated with courtesy and allowed many privileges.

4:8 not impute sin. By the marvelous provision of imputation, our sins were debited to the account of Jesus, the Son of man, whereas His perfect righteousness was credited to our account. “For He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21). See also James 2:23; Philemon 17-18.

1:2 Colosse. Colosse was a small city of Asia Minor not too far from Laodicea (see Colossians 4:16). Paul had never visited there, and so addressed them a little more formally than he did the church at Ephesus, even though the doctrinal content of the two epistles is often similar. He apparently wrote while he was in prison at Rome (note Colossians 4:18) and sent the letter to them by Tychicus (Colossians 4:7), by whom he also sent the Ephesian letter, presumably at the same time (note Ephesians 6:21-22), as well as that to Philemon.

1:7 Epaphras. Epaphras evidently had been the man who first preached the gospel and established the church there. At the time of writing, he was with Paul (Colossians 4:12), having brought word to him of the state of the Colossian church with its need for doctrinal guidance from Paul. He is also mentioned in Philemon 23, where it is indicated that Epaphras may also have been imprisoned with Paul for a time.

4:9 Onesimus. See Philemon 10. Evidently Onesimus, a run-away slave belonging to a Christian master named Philemon living in Colosse, had been led to Christ by Paul in Rome. This suggests that Tychicus and Onesimus carried letters from Paul to the churches at Ephesus and Colosse and also a personal letter to Philemon in Colosse.

4:10 Aristarchus. See Acts 19:29; 20:4; 27:2; Philemon 24. In Colossians 4:7-17, Paul mentions more people by name than in any other epistle except in Romans 16:1-23. If any should wonder why these personal references should be included in a divinely inspired document intended by the Holy Spirit to be used in all churches of all the centuries, the intent may be to assure us that God is interested in individual believers as well as in the church as a whole. All believers have their individual names written in the Lamb’s “book of life” in heaven (Revelation 20:15). As a token and surety of this, some of these names have also been written in His book on earth.

Introduction to Ephesians Ephesus was the capital and chief city of the Roman province of Asia, located on the west coast of Asia Minor, almost due east of Athens. So far as the record goes, Paul spent almost three years in Ephesus (Acts 18:18-21; 19), longer than any other place after he started his missionary ministries. A strong church was established there, and Timothy was eventually sent there by Paul as its pastor (I Timothy 1:3). According to the early church fathers, the Apostle John served as senior pastor of the Ephesian church in his later years, while he wrote his five New Testament books. Ephesus was evidently noted as the leading church among “the seven churches which are in Asia” (Revelation 1:11). With such a long time spent by Paul establishing the church at Ephesus, it is noteworthy that, unlike his other epistles, the book of Ephesians contains no references to any individuals there, nor any references to specific problems or situations in the Ephesian church. The Ephesian epistle thus seems clearly designed for use in any church at all, and the probability is that Paul meant it as a circular letter, to be shared with all the churches in Asia. It may even be the same as the letter to Laodicea mentioned in Colossians 4:16. It was probably written while Paul was in house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:30). This is implied by the fact that he made several allusions to his imprisonment in this Ephesian epistle (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1; 6:20). It is generally believed that Colossians and Philemon were also written during the same period, and that all three were carried from Paul to the recipients by Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7). See also the Introductions to Colossians and Philemon. Colossians has many features common to Ephesians, and many believe that Paul wrote them both at the same time—Colossians, first, to a specific church, followed by the longer and more fully developed treatment in Ephesians, with the latter intended for circulation to all the other churches (besides Colosse) in the province of Asia. It was addressed specifically, however, “to the saints which are at Ephesus” (Ephesians 1:1), since the Ephesians seaport was where Tychicus would first land as he came from Rome and also since Ephesus was the capital and most influential city in Asia and had the most active church. Some ancient manuscripts do omit the words “which are at Ephesus” from the salutation, but by far most of the manuscripts do contain them. Paul did add “and to the faithful in Christ Jesus,” thus implying that it was intended to be read by others than only the Ephesian saints. The ruins at Ephesus are still very impressive. Among its greatest structures was “the temple of the great goddess Diana” (Acts 19:27), which was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The remains of this temple have been excavated, as have those of the “theater” where the great riot against Paul took place (Acts 19:29-41). Ephesians is one of the very few Pauline epistles whose authorship is questioned today by some. The book, of course, claims to be written by Paul (Ephesians 1:1; 3:1), and contains so many internal references to Paul’s experiences that it could hardly have been written by anyone else. No one ever questioned this fact until certain nineteenth century liberals decided to argue that some of its vocabulary and concepts were unique, not found in Paul’s other epistles. The vocabulary depends on the theme, of course, and this was one of Paul’s later epistles, so it is hardly surprising that he would—especially in a letter meant for wider circulation—develop some themes in depth that were only sketchily introduced in his earlier letters to specific churches. In any case, there is no objective evidence whatever that Paul was not the author of the epistle to the Ephesians. Ephesians does, indeed, contain an exalted description of the divine Creator and His sovereign control over the world, as well as a strong affirmation of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. Its great doctrinal expositions of the first half of the book are supplemented by doctrinally based exhortations to godliness in the second half. It also contains a wonderful delineation of the unity of all believers in Christ, whether Jew or Gentile.

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