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A Re-Examination of ‘the Heavenlies’ in Ephesians

A. T. Lincoln

New Testament Studies / Volume 19 / Issue 04 / July 1973, pp 468 - 483

DOI: 10.1017/S0028688500008286, Published online: 05 February 2009

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0028688500008286

How to cite this article:

A. T. Lincoln (1973). A Re-Examination of ‘the Heavenlies’ in Ephesians. New Testament
Studies, 19, pp 468-483 doi:10.1017/S0028688500008286

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468 JAMES W. MARGHAND
C 18. fon qam lagjan ana air/>ai is the manuscript reading. Capelle's 'fvn
(lisez fon)' is an obvious indication that Lang first read the 0 as a w, which
is easy to do in a Gothic manuscript, and then later repaired his error. The
seeming solecism of the dative with lagjan ana 'mittere in' has been cleared
up by Leopold Zatocil, ' Zur Ruhekonstruktion bei lagjan', ZfdA LXXI (1934),
200.
C 19: bi horos jah motarjos 'on adulterers and publicans', all legible. This
note is interesting, as Dr Friedrichsen points out, because of its rendering of
peccatores and its solecism. On the latter, it is possible that the bilingual Goth
was influenced by the Latin accusative plural ending and wrote -os for his
-am for this reason. Or it may be that he took hors to be feminine, wrote it
correctly horos, and then added -os to motareis by attraction. Be that as it may,
the collocation is incorrect as it stands.
C 22. The manuscript reads: bi ]?atei qi/j>ij>. sai ur/rann. saian. /du saan.
Here there is little of interest; note the saian., abbreviated for saiands, and
the slip saan for saian. Note the conflation of Mark iv. 3 and Luke viii. 5.
C 24. The z ' 7 ' is illegible in the manuscript.
The manuscript contains a number of other marginal notes which have
remained unnoticed, such as bi marjtyrans (fo. 6gr), beside the homily on All
Martyrs' Day published by Turner, J.T.S. (April 1916), pp. 225 f.: Item de
natale martyrum, and bifraiw 'on the seed', beside C 4 : Qui loquitur verbum
seminat. These, along with the above, demonstrate clearly that the notes are
not lectionary headings, as some have thought, but are simply ad hoc indications
of the contents of the manuscript. Thus, though they are of great interest to
Gothic specialists and church historians, they are of little worth for the
textual criticism of the New Testament.
JAMES W. MARCHAND

New Test. Stud. 19, pp. 468-483

A RE-EXAMINATION OF 'THE
HEAVENLIES' IN EPHESIANS
For most readers of Ephesians the recurring phrase 'in the heavenlies' has an
elusive quality. For some it has vague mystical connotations, for others it has
passed over into a Christian 'language of Canaan' and is used to describe
moments of intense feeling in devotions, while still others see it as merely part
of the liturgical rhetoric in which the author of Ephesians appears to indulge.
The phrase is often mentioned or discussed briefly in footnotes in the com-
mentaries but the most thoroughgoing treatment remains that of Hugo

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 'THE HEAVENLIES' IN EPHESIANS 469
1
Odeberg in his The View of the Universe in the Epistle to the Ephesians. The pre-
sent article re-examines the phrase and its various interpretations, disagrees
with Odeberg's main thesis and suggests that, whatever its origins in the
Church's worship, light may be shed on its significance by placing it within
the context of Pauline eschatology.2
Although the adjective Eiroup&vios can be found elsewhere in the Pauline
corpus (I Cor. xv. 40, 48, 49; Phil. ii. 10; II Tim. iv. 18), the phrase ev TOIS
EiToupccviois which occurs five times in Ephesians is unique to this epistle
(i. 3, 20; ii. 6; iii. 10; vi. 12). The significance of the phrase in these five
references will be briefly outlined.
(i) Ephesians i. 3 is at the beginning of an extended thanksgiving which,
in the form of a Jewish 'berakah', 3 blesses the God and Father of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is worthy of blessing, because he has first blessed believers
with every spiritual blessing 'in the heavenlies' in Christ. What follows is
based on v. 3 and can be seen as an elaboration of some of these blessings of
the heavenly realm. "Ev TOIS E-rroupccviois is here one of three adverbial phrases
which modify 6 eOAoynaccs, although in its position immediately following
EV Trior) EuAoyfqc TTVEU|JocTiKrj it inevitably tends to qualify that phrase also.
'Blessing', whether viewed as a verb or a noun, has its sphere 'in the
heavenlies'.
The older commentators, such as Chrysostom, Theodoret and Luther,
understood the phrase as referring to ' heavenly things' and thus as a further
elaboration of the spiritual blessings. Since the phrase is clearly used as a
formula in Ephesians and one would expect it to retain the same meaning
throughout, this interpretation must be rejected in favour of the 'local', for
other references (cf. especially i. 20) just will not bear such a non-local
interpretation. Schlier is correct in affirming, 'Offenbar ist mit eV TO15
Eiroupocvfois immer ein " O r t " angegeben, gleichgiiltig, ob das Substantiv
maskulinisch oder neutrisch zu verstehen ist'.4 Granted such a local reference,
the question remains whether this is to be taken literally or figuratively. The
evident similarity to the phrase EV TOIS oupavols cannot be avoided and thus
account must be taken of the Old Testament and Jewish conception of heaven
which this presupposes. Suffice it to say here that heaven was viewed as the
upper part of the cosmos but at the same time stood analogically for the
1
H. Odeberg, The View of the Universe in the Epistle to the Ephesians. Lunds Universitets Arsskrift
N.F. Avd. 1 Bd. 29 Nr. 6 (C. W. K. Gleerup, Lund, 1934).
8
Ephesians is treated here as part of the Corpus Paulinum and used as a source for Pauline
theology.
a
Cf. J . C. Kirby, Ephesians, Baptism and Pentecost (S.P.C.K., London, 1968), pp. 84 ff.
* H. Schlier, Der Brief an die Epheser (Patmos-Verlag, Diisseldorf, 1965), p. 45. Others who can
be cited in support of this view include Arndt and Gingrich, A Greek—English Lexicon of the New Testa-
ment (Cambridge University Press, 1957), p. 306; T. K. Abbott, The Epistles to the Ephesians and to the
Colossians (T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1897), p. 5; M. Dibelius, An die Kolosser, Epheser, an Philemon
(J. C. B. Mohr, Tubingen, 1953), p. 58; E. Percy, Die Probleme der Kolosser- und Epheserbriefe (C. W.
K. Gleerup, Lund, 1946), p. 181; R. M. Pope, 'Studies in Pauline Vocabulary: Of the Heavenly
Places', Exp. T. xxm (1912), 365 f.
31 NTS XIX

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470 A. T. LINCOLN
spiritual world 'above' and 'beyond' men which the firmament concealed
and thus also for the realm of divine transcendence. Since the spiritual
blessings, being in the heavenly realm, cannot be divorced from the fact that
this realm is one of blessingfor the believer united with Christ precisely because
the incarnate Christ has ascended to it (i. 20; ii. 6), it appears that the writer
thinks of it here both as a part of created reality (the upper limits of the cosmos
and the spiritual world inhabited by heavenly beings) and as God's abode
which transcends human comprehension and the categories of space and time.1
What is the spiritual blessing mentioned here and what is the significance
of its close relation to the heavenly realm? God has already blessed men
kv XpiaTco - the verb is in the aorist signifying a completed action. This
blessing stands for the sum total of the promised gifts of God to man and is
spiritual because it is bound up with the Holy Spirit. Gal. iii. 14 supports this
interpretation of'spiritual', for there the promised blessing to Abraham is
seen by Paul in terms of the Spirit, and the last verses of this thanksgiving
(vv. 13, 14) make clear that through faith and through participation in the
Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of full future possession, the inheritance can
be appropriated now.2 The Spirit is the one who belongs pre-eminently to
that spiritual order of reality involved in the concept of' the heavenlies'. This
connection is confirmed when we see Paul's use of the adjectives TTV£UHOCTIK6S
and i-rroup&vios in I Corinthians. In I Cor. x. 3 the manna which came down
from heaven (Exod. xvi. 4) is designated as irveupomKov Ppconcc and in I Cor.
xv. 44 f. aconoc TTVEUUCCTIKOV is also a heavenly body, for it is in the image of
6 8euTEpos avQpcoTTOS ££ oupocvou (v. 48) and further (popEcronev KCCI Tf|V
3
EIKOVCC TOU eTToupaviou (v. 49) . In the Pauline writings the heavenly world
and the spiritual world (not in the sense of the Hellenistic 'spiritual' as over
against' material' but in the sense of the realm of the Holy Spirit) can often
be almost equated. Sometimes this heavenly order of things is centred on the
risen Christ, at other times the focus is on the realm of the Spirit. But because
Christ has entered into this realm by virtue of his exaltation, Paul does not
view it as an ideal, non-sensual world, but rather sees this heavenly realm as
caught up in the history of redemption.4
1
Thus although J . G. Gibbs, Creation and Redemption: A Study in Pauline Theology (E. J. Brill,
Leiden, 1971), p. 131, is undoubtedly right in pointing out that the significance of heaven is that it is
where God's throne is, i.e. the source of His sovereign rule and that 'the blessing with which God
blessed us is tv TOISfrroupccvloisbecause it originates at the source of his sovereignty and, when given
to us, continues to express to us his sovereignty', he is wrong in limiting the meaning of the phrase
2
simply to a symbol of sovereignty. Cf. H. Schlier, op. cit. p. 44.
s
Just as W. D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism (Harper Torchbooks, New York, 1967), p. 308,
in commenting on crcopa irvEu|jomK6v warns us not to think of the spiritual as immaterial, so we should
not think of the heavenly as necessarily a-spatial - pace J. G. Gibbs, op. cit. p. 131, who speaks of
heaven 'as a reality which is a-spatial'.
4
As G. Vos, ' T h e Eschatological Aspect of the Pauline Conception of the Spirit' in Biblical and
Theological Studies (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1912), p. 244, says, 'By pneumatic as a
synonym of heavenly Paul does not mean heaven or the spiritual in abstract, but heaven and the
spiritual as they have become as a result of the process of redemption. T6 trvEunariK6v is second (EITCC)
and Christ as irvEumx jcooiroiouv " b e c a m e " (JyivETo).'

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 'THE HEAVENLIES' IN E P H E S I A N S 471

The blessings of salvation are linked with heaven elsewhere in the Pauline
writings (cf. Col. i. 5; II Cor. v. 1,2). Although such heavenly blessings are
eschatological and will only be fully realized in the age to come, through the
Christ event the eschatological, the spiritual, the heavenly have become a
present reality for believers. 'Ev TOIS E-rroupccviois has reference then not to
future blessings viewed as treasure stored up in heaven but to benefits which
belong to believers now because God in Christ has blessed them and sealed
them with the Spirit (cf. v. 13). These benefits are to be found both EV TO!$
eiroupaviois and EV Xpiorco, the latter phrase signifying that believers partake
of the benefits because they are incorporated into the ascended Christ as their
representative who is himself in the heavenlies. Percy appreciates the eschato-
logical conception of heaven involved in this verse when he says, 'EV TOIS
STroupaiuois bezeichnet somit hier die himmlische Welt, insofern sie mit dem
neuen Aon identisch ist: der Segen, den Christus den Glaubigen gebracht hat,
gehort ja ganz dem neuen Aon an.' 1 His statement needs modification,
however, and the significance of the phrase in Eph. i. 3 is better summed up
by saying that it refers to heaven as seen in the perspective of the new age
brought about in Christ and for this reason it is so closely linked with the
Spirit of that age.
(ii) The Eph. i. 20 reference occurs in a passage which many recent com-
mentators consider to have definite hymnic and poetic characteristics.2 The
phrase under investigation occurs with Christ in view and as part of a prayer
that the apostle's readers might know the greatness of God's power. Ephesians
has been called the 'Epistle of the Ascension',3 and the fact of Christ's
ascension clearly lies behind the writer's theological reflections here. As in
many other places in the New Testament, Ps. ex. 1 is alluded to in connection
with Christ's exaltation and enthronement, and it is given a local setting in
heaven (cf. also Acts ii. 34; Heb. viii. 1). It is most probable then that EV
TOIS ETroupccviois has similar force in Eph. i. 20 as EV TOIS oupccvols has in
these other references to the ascension. Confirmation of this interpretation
can be found in the fact that B (Vaticanus) reads Iv TOIS oOpocvois here in
i. 20 and that vi. 9 of this same letter says of Christ that f|Ucov 6 Kupios EOTIV
EV oupocvois.4 That 'sitting at the right hand' was a symbol for a position of
power and authority5 and is used in this way in i. 20 does not mean that

1
E. Percy, op. cit. p. 181.
a
Cf. H . Conzelmann, Der Brief an die Epheser, NTD n t h ed. (Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht,
Gottingen, 1968), p. 63; M. Dibelius, op. cit. p. 64; E. Kasemann, ' Epheserbrief' in RGG n, 517 f.;
J . C. Kirby, op. cit. p. 139; H . Schlier, op. cit. p. 86.
3
Cf. S. D. F. Salmond, The Epistle to the Ephesians, E.G.T. (Hodder and Stoughton, London,
•903), P- 209.
1
Cf. also H . Bietenhard, Die himmlische Welt im Urchristentum und Spdtjudentum (J. C. B. Mohr,
Tubingen, 1951), p. 211 n. 1. 'Dafi beiden Ausdriicken - h -rots l-n-oupavlois und Sv TOTJ oipavols-
dieselbe Vorstellung zugrunde liegt, zeigt ein Vergleich von Eph. 6: g mit Eph. 1: 20 und 2: 6 . . .
Der Ausdruck iv -rots SiToupavlois ist also im lokalen Sinne zu verstehen.'
5
Cf. W. Grundmann, 'SeSuJs', T.D.N.T. n, 37 ff.
31-2

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472 A. T. LINCOLN

kv TOTS iiToupaviois here cannot be thought of as local.1 The functions of

kv 8E£ICC CXUTOU and kv TOTS t-rroupccviois are not to be equated, for the former as
a symbol of sovereignty is posited only of Christ, not of believers (cf. ii. 6,
where despite the other parallels with i. 20 ev Se^ia CCUTOU is omitted). What
is striking is the fact that local and non-local phrases can be juxtaposed in this
way, so that while on the one hand the ascended Christ is spoken of in
spatial terms, on the other hand an expression such as Iv Ss^iqi: CCUTOU indicates
that he was viewed as also breaking through the bounds of such categories
(cf. also iv. 1 0 - 6 &voc|3as uirep&vco TT&VTCOV TUV oupavcov). This session at
the Father's right hand in the heavenlies is explained by the apostle in terms
of Christ's position of primacy above the entire angelic creation who are
probably thought of here in terms of evil powers, hence the need for subjec-
tion UTTO TOUS TTOSCCS ccuTou. Despite the 'realized eschatology' of the epistle,
the two-age structure, which has affinities with Jewish apocalyptic and is
characteristic of the thought of primitive Christianity, is made explicit in the
rhetorical flourish indulged in by the apostle in v. 21 in order to underline
Christ's supreme authority.
(iii) Eph. ii. 6 has parallels with i. 20 which are not to be missed. Christians
have been made sharers with Christ in his dominion so that even now in anti-
cipation of the age to come their life is placed in the heavenlies where he
reigns. The compound verbs ouvfiyEipsv and auv£K&0io~Ev bring to mind the
simple verbs eyeipocs and KocQfaccs of i. 20. Whether or not one agrees with
recent commentators that there is here a definite baptismal reference,2 one
certainly encounters that which baptism vividly depicts, viz. incorporation
into Christ. There is much dispute however concerning the origin of the
terminology and concepts in which this central feature of union with Christ
is framed.
W. L. Knox believed that the passage had affinities with Hellenistic
' mystery' religions and wrote, ' Ephesians was written for Hellenistic readers
who were not seriously concerned with that problem [the relation ofJews and
Gentiles], but wanted a 'mystery' which would explain the Gospel and the
practice of the Church in terms of the ascent of the soul to heaven.'3 In an
astrologically conceived cosmos the worshipper ascends by passing through
various heavenly spheres; here in Ephesians this is posited of the Church and
thus Christianity is made attractive to the ' mystery' religions. In a similar
vein Conzelmann links the concepts of Eph. ii. 5, 6 specifically with the
Gnostic understanding of salvation.4 A look at some of the phrases to be found

1
Pace T. K. Abbott, op. cit. pp. 31 f.
a
Cf. J. C. Kirby, op. cit. pp. 154 ff.; F. Mussner, Christus, das All und die Kirche (Paulinus-Verlag,
Trier, 1955), p. 9 1 ; G. Schille, Friihchristliche Hymnen (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin, 1955),
pp. 53 ff.; H. Schlier, op. cit. pp. n o f.; R. Schnackenburg, Baptism in the Thought ofSt Paul (Basil
Blackwell, Oxford, 1964), pp. 73 ff.
3
W. L. Knox, St Paul and the Church of the Gentiles (Cambridge University Press, 1939), pp- 190 ff.
4
H. Conzelmann, op. cit. p. 66.

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 ' T H E H E A V E N L I E S ' IN E P H E S I A N S 473
in the Hellenistic Gnostic Corpus Hermeticum shows the apparent plausibility of
such an interpretation. Liberation from the material world involves the
heavenly journey of the soul - 6 6E avQpcoiros KOC! EIS TOV oupavov avoc|3aivEi
{Corp. Herm. x. 25). Through the faculty of the mind (6 vous) the initiate
then perceives - EV oupccvco Eiui (Corp. Herm. xin. 11 b).1 Conzelmann asks
whether what is being said here in Eph. ii is not formally the same as the
heresy denounced in II Tim ii. 18, i.e. that the resurrection is past already,
but concludes that, although the material for this conception is Gnostic,
the content here is distinguished by the context of the Christian view of
salvation.
Chronologically the link with Gnostic literature is tenuous, but is the influ-
ence of incipient Gnosticism necessary in order to understand the passage?
In his essay ' Contributions made by Qumran to the Understanding of the
Epistle to the Ephesians'2 F. Mussner has suggested another alternative by
pointing out parallels in the Qumran literature within the context of the Qum-
ran community's self-understanding that they as the elect on earth already
formed a liturgical community with the inhabitants of heaven. The termino-
logy of Eph. ii. 5 f. would then have its counterpart in iQH xi. 10-12, 'Thou
hast purified man of sin. . .that he may partake of the lot of Thy Holy Ones
. . . that bodies gnawed by worms may be raised from the dust. . . that he may
stand before Thee with the everlasting host. . . ' (G. Vermes, The Dead Sea
Scrolls in English, Penguin, 1962, p. 186; cf. also iQH iii. 19-22). Thus being
raised from the dead is thought of as being placed in the company of the
inhabitants of heaven. Mussner links ii. 6 with ii. 18, 19 (' access to the Father'
and 'fellow citizens with the holy ones') in claiming that in Ephesians ii
believers have also already become citizens of the heavenly world. This would
support an eschatological context for the concept of the heavenlies, but the
Qumran literature does not, of course, provide any real parallel to the cen-
tral feature of incorporation into Christ and therefore sharing the life and
reign which is his in the heavenlies.
Further illumination is however forthcoming from parallels in the Old
Testament and Jewish literature and in other passages in the New Testament.
The righteous will enter into dominion and life, cf. Dan. vii. 22, 27; Wisdom
of Solomon iii. 8; v. 15, 16; I Enoch xcvi. 1; cviii. 12; Rev. xxii. 5, and this
will be in connection with the Son of Man, cf. Dan. vii. 13, 14, 18; Matt.
xix. 28, through the one man Jesus Christ, cf. Rom. v. 17, with Christ, cf.
II Tim. ii. 11, 12; Rev. iii. 21; xx. 4, 5. Colossians iii. 1-4 provides perhaps the
closest parallel. Christians who have been raised with Christ are exhorted to
seek the things above, for the reason that Christ is there seated at the right
hand of God and their lives are hid with Christ in God. Eph. ii. 6, by adding
explicitly that Christians have been seated with Christ in the heavenlies,

1
Cf. H. Traub, 'oupav6s', T.D.N.T. v, 501.
2
In Paul and Qumran, ed. J. Murphy-O'Connor (Chapman, London, 1968), cf. pp. 164-7.

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 A T
474 - - LINCOLN
simply brings out what is already implicit in the conception of union with
Christ stated in such strong terms in the Colossians passage.1 What is being
spoken of here remains hidden until the parousia but is nevertheless real -
the verbs are in the aorist indicating what God has already done for believers.
The terminology employed sets the teaching in redemptive-historical per-
spective (cf. also v. 7 where God's gracious salvation finds its full realization
only in the coming age - EV TOIS ocicocriv TOIS ETTEPXOPEVOIS), but the context
would also demand the conclusion that the apostle is describing what has
taken place for believers experientially. Christ has been raised and exalted, and
nothing less is involved than the believer by virtue of his existential union
with this Christ actually sharing His life and reign in heaven where he is.
(iv) In Ephesians iii it is asserted that the mystery of Christ (v. 4) has not
only been made known to Paul (v. 3) and to the apostles and prophets (v. 5),
nor is it simply to be made known to the Gentiles also (vv. 8, 9), but it is
now to be revealed to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places
through the instrumentality of the Church (v. 10). 'Ev TOIS ETroupccviois has a
clearly local reference here.2 This verse also demonstrates the stereotypical
nature of the phrase, for it would have been simpler and in line with a passage
such as Phil. ii. 10 to have written TOCIS ETroupocviocis dpxccis, yet the writer
chooses not to do so and instead prefers the formula.
Again the phrase is best understood against the background of the cosmic
heavens in Old Testament and Jewish apocalyptic thought, where angels and
spirit powers were often represented as in heaven (e.g. Job. i. 6; Dan x. 13,
21; II Mace. v. 2; I Enoch lxi. 10; xc. 21, 24). The heavenly realms are not
empty. God has placed in them creatures in family groupings just as he has
done on earth (iii. 15). These varieties of supernatural beings are most
commonly designated 'principalities and powers' as in this reference, but
they can be further elaborated (cf. vi. 12). Since the other references in this let-
ter are to evil powers who need to be subjected (cf. i. 20 f.; ii. 2; vi. 12), it is
more probable that this verse has affinities with a passage such as I Pet. iii.
19 f. where the victory of Christ over angelic adversaries is proclaimed than
that it is simply saying the same as I Pet. i. 12 where more well-disposed
angels desire to look into the gospel. R. P. Martin rightly comments that' the
hostile angelic powers are not only held in wonder, but their death-knell is
sounded with the proclamation that God in Christ has decisively acted for
cosmic salvation and so brought their malign regime over human life to an
end'. 3 What is in fact proclaimed to the powers is the manifold wisdom of
God, which is probably seen here not so much as realized in the person of

1
Pace J . A. Allan, ' T h e " I n Christ" Formula in Ephesians', N.T.S. v (1958-9), 58.
2
M. Dibelius, op. cit. p. 68, points out that tv TOlsSiToupav fois cannot refer to heavenly powers,
for to talk of spiritual powers in the spiritual powers would be 'eine unvertragliche Tautologie'.
3
R. P. Martin, 'Ephesians' in Mew Bible Commentary Revised (Inter-Varsity Press, London,
1970), p. 1113.

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 THE HEAVENLIES IN EPHESIANS 475
Christ as in the progressive and varied drama of redemption which reaches its
culmination in the Church. The Church provides the angelic powers with
tangible evidence that their authority has been decisively broken and that all
things are to be subject to Christ. Although grammatically the verse links only
the powers with sv TOIS ETroupaviois, it is legitimate to infer from the concept
of God's wisdom being revealed to these powers through the Church that the
Church can be thought of as spanning both earth and heaven, especially in
the light of the previous reference in ii. 6.1 Eph. iii. 10 is primarily significant
however in establishing that EV TOIS ETroupaviois has reference to a realm where
spiritual powers exist who in God's cosmic redemptive plan are being sub-
jected to his final purpose of summing up all things, including Td ETTI TOTS
oupocvols, in Christ (cf. i. 10).
(v) The final use of the formula in Eph. vi. 12 has for its context the idea
of the Christian warfare. The description of God as a warrior and of his
people fighting his battles with him has roots in the Old Testament and the
concept of a final cosmic struggle between God and the forces of evil can also be
found in ' The War Rule' of the Qumran community. Whereas for the com-
munity this decisive battle lay in the future, the apostle here views the Chris-
tian as already involved in it and Christ as having already won the crucial
victory (cf. i. 21; iv. 8 f.) Again Iv TOIS broupaviois is to be related to the
phrase immediately preceding it - TOC TTVEUUCCTIKCC Tfis TTOVTI pices - as identi-
fying the realm where these spiritual hosts of wickedness reside.2 Percy is right
in pointing out that EV TOIS ETroupaviois refers primarily to the realm of the
evil powers and not to that in which believers are fighting.3 However, the
statement that the fighting is 'not against flesh and blood' can be seen as
indicating not only the spiritual nature of the adversary but also the spiritual
character of the believer's struggle. The apostle mentions the plurality of the
powers not for the sake of some schematic classification but in order to bring
home to the consciousness of his readers the variety and comprehensiveness of
the power the enemy has at his disposal.4 However little may be known of his
1
E. Rods, God's Mission: the Epistle to the Ephesians in Mission Perspective (T. Wever, Franeker,
1962), p. 160, observes, 'The witness to God's wisdom would then be given by a Church which is
in the heavenlies "in Christ" to those who are in the heavenlies not "in Christ".'
2
That the reference is again a local one, incorporating the view of heaven found in the other
passages, is confirmed indirectly by the fact that $)46 has omitted the phrase in this verse, quite
probably because the copyist could not conceive of such an explicit reference to wicked powers in
heaven.
s
E. Percy, op. cit. p. 182.
4
A question naturally arises concerning the relationship between Iv TOIS SiToupavlois where the
spiritual hosts of wickedness are found and the air (TOU <&pos) of ii. 2 which is the realm of the male-
volent agencies mentioned there. Such an idea of evil spiritual beings living in the cosmic heavens
was not alien to Judaism (Job i. 6; Zech. iii. 1; Jubil. xvii. 16; I Enoch xl. 7) and there are parallels to
Eph. ii. 2 in the Ascension of Isaiah (vii. 9; x. 29; xi. 23) where Satan and his angels are represented
as living in the firmament. In later Judaism the 'air' is thought of as the region under the firmament.
II Enoch xxix. 4, 5 reads 'And I threw him out from the height with his angels, and he was flying
in the air continuously above the abyss' (cf. also Targum of Job v. 7; Strack and Billerbeck, Kom-
mentar aim Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch iv, 516). Although the number seven was coming
to the fore, there was however in the late Judaism of the first century A.D. no fixed doctrine with

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476 A. T. LINCOLN
detailed cosmology, the apostle in Ephesians definitely conceives of the demo-
nic presence operative throughout the cosmos, including heaven. Whereas
previously his readers had been carried along by these powers (ii. 2), now by
virtue of being in Christ they can withstand. The enemies are certainly
formidable however; therefore (Side TOUTO V. 13), Paul goes on to say, the
believer's position of victory in the heavenlies (ii. 6) must be made effective
by putting on the whole armour of God - that armour which God himself
wears (cf. Isa. lix. 17 and Wisdom of Solomon v. 17-20).
This look at Iv TOIS E-rroupccviois in its contexts gives a vantage point for
evaluating the general interpretations of others as to its significance and for
putting forward some suggestions concerning the phrase and its overall
import which will incorporate the above findings. The origins of the expres-
sion, perhaps from a worship setting, must remain uncertain.1 The texts also
give no indication as to whether the author had a nominative form of the
phrase in mind. Whether this is 01 eTroupdvioi (and to be completed by
TOTTOI) or whether it is TO iiroupdvia, it appears to be an inclusive summary
term, whose gender makes no difference in assigning a local or non-local
meaning. As has been seen above, the phrase is a formula which should be
given the same meaning each time it occurs in the letter, and the meaning
which is most appropriate to all five contexts is a local one.2
R. M. Pope, in his treatment 'Studies in Pauline Vocabulary: of the
Heavenly Places',3 is unable to find a uniform meaning for the formula. He
believes that iii. 10 and vi. 12 are local and Jewish, while the other references
are spiritualized and Hellenic. In iii. 10 and vi. 12 'St. Paul's view of the
heavenly places is not wholly liberated from the sense of space and locality
which colours Jewish angelology'. In the other references Pope considers that
the exalted Christ has lifted Paul into the noumenal world. Heaven in fact is
defined as 'a vast realm of the noumenal behind the world of sense'.4 So for
Pope the more 'spiritual' Paul is to be interpreted in terms of Plato and this
is stated in an extravagant fashion. 'Thus the divine wisdom would seem to

regard to the heavens; and since there is no indication that the Biblical writers adopted the sevenfold
divisions of the heavens, it is not necessary to think that in Ephesians the 'air' is one definite and
distinct sphere while the heavenlies are another. Rather the localities of the evil powers in ii. 2 and
vi. 12 are more or less synonymous; but, whereas vi. 12 has them in the heavenlies to emphasize
more their supernatural aspect, ii. 2 makes their sphere of operation the air in order to stress their
proximity in influencing the lives of men. As regards the expression in ii. 2, Percy (op. cit. pp. 255
f.) makes the valid observation that the author probably felt it necessary to vary the terminology
since he had used the normal phrases for the devil's sphere of dominion - 6 K6CTIIO; OOTOS and 6 atebv
OOTOS in the previous sentence.
1
U. Simon, Heaven in the Christian Tradition (Rockliff, London, 1958), p. 189, observes, 'This
expression has confounded many commentators: it appears to be a cultic one, of Mandaean origin.'
Simon seems to have followed M. Dibelius, op. cit. p. 58, who in a rather erratic hypothesis suggested
that the much later Mandaean text Qolasta 17 provided a parallel.
2
Thus definitions, such as that of U. Simon, op. cit. p. 189, 'In meaning it oscillates between the
heavenly spheres where the work of Christ is consummated in reconciliation, and between the very
partakers of this reconcilation', which want to attribute to the phrase both a local and a personal
s
meaning, are unacceptable. Exp. T. xxm (1912), 365 ff. * Ibid. p. 366.

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 THE HEAVENLIES IN EPHESIANS 477
have used Plato as a preparer of His way and Platonic thought as a foregleam
of " a better hope" - the conception of the unseen as the Home of the Ideal
Christ, the Spiritual Head of the Church.'1 He would have been better
advised, however, to stay with the Jewish thought-world he perceived in
iii. 10 and vi. 12. He would then perhaps have appreciated that for the early
Jewish Christians, including Paul, the ascension and exaltation of Christ,
essential to the understanding of ev TOIS etToupccviois in Ephesians, were more
than a symbol of the noumenal realm, of'the white radiance of eternity'. 2
No more convincing than this Platonic interpretation of hv TOIS Siroupaviois
is that of recent interpreters, such as Kasemann and Conzelmann, who assign
it to Gnostic thought. Kasemann says, ' Mythologischen Ursprungs sind
endlich die Aussagen, nach welchen die Kirche im himmlischen Bereich lebt
(i. 3, 20; iii. 10; vi. 12) und der Christ an der Inthronisation Christi teilgenom-
men hat (ii. 6). Mit Hilfe solcher gnostischen Tradition wird erreicht, daB
die Ekklesiologie als Funktion der Christologie erscheint.. .' 3 Conzelmann
qualifies this 'Im Unterschied zur reinen Gnosis ist freilich dieses Weltbild
nur gerade angedeutet und als Ausdrucksmittel beniitzt'4. However, as has
been indicated above in the comments on Eph. ii. 6, positing such an affinity
with Gnostic thought is simply not necessary for an understanding of this
particular formula.5
Another philosophical framework which has been imposed on the phrase
is the existentialist. For Schlier,6 via Gnostic terminology, the phrase comes to
signify 'die Himmel des Daseins'. It is the transcendental dimension of
human existence. As such kv TOIS eiroupccviois presents man with a challenge
to existential decision - either for the rule of Christ in the heavenlies or for
the powers.7 Schlier recognizes that there is an ethical antithesis involved
within the realm of the heavenlies, but in doing so reduces this realm and
with it the cosmic aspects of the Pauline gospel to the possibility for authentic
existence lying before the individual consciousness.
One of the most comprehensive and influential8 treatments of the formula
is that of Hugo Odeberg in his The View of the Universe in the Epistle to the
Ephesians.9 Odeberg is correct in seeing that the formula must have one mean-
ing and in objecting to working with Greek philosophical categories of eternal

1 a 3
Ibid. p. 367. Ibid. p. 368. E. Kasemann, op. cit. p. 518.
4
H. Conzelmann, op. cit. p. 57.
6
For more detailed criticism of the interpretation which links Ephesians with the Gnostic
world-view cf. F. Mussner, op. cit. pp. 160 ff. Cf. also the thesis of K. G. Kuhn, 'Der Epheserbrief im
Lichteder Qumrantexte', N.T.S. vn (1960-1), 335. 'Heutekann man nun nicht mehr davon reden,
wie Schlier.. .doch recht vage sagt, die Sprache des Epheserbriefes stehe unter dem EinfluB der
judenchristlichen "Gnosis". Angesichts der umfangreichen Texte von Qumran muB man nun
sagen, daB die Sprache des Epheserbriefes unter dem EinfluB dieses Schrifttums steht.'
6
H. Schlier, op. cit. pp. 45-8.
' Ibid. p. 47.
8
The bulk of his thesis is followed, for example, by B. Metzger, ' Paul's Vision of the Church',
Theology Today vi (1949), 51 ff., and J. G. Gibbs, op. cit. pp. 130 ff.
8
Cf. p. 469 n. 1.

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478 A. T. LINCOLN
timeless reality in dealing with its significance. For him, however, the heaven-
lies, although connected with the concept of heaven, are to be distinguished
from it in that they are the sphere of the Church. The heavenlies are the whole
of spiritual reality in which the Church participates1 and the realm of the
Church in Christ.2 In other words, they are not the equivalent of heaven in its
denotation as the celestial regions in distinction from other parts of the uni-
verse. Odeberg has three main reasons for this thesis. Firstly, simply to equate
the two terms is to lose sight of the fact that the author uses the phrase under
consideration as a peculiar expression, when elsewhere in the epistle he makes
normal use of oupocvos. Although by itself it does not confirm Odeberg's
particular interpretation, this is a valid point (cf. the use of oupccvos in the
familiar way in i. 10; iii. 15; iv. 10; vi. 19) and it will not do simply to say the
two concepts are synonymous and leave the matter there.3 Secondly, in
Odeberg's words ' we miss in Ephesians any reference, by way of contrasting
ETroup&vicc and ETriyEicc, to "earth" that one would expect if EV TOIS ETroupoc-
viois were equivalent to Iv TOIS oupocvois '.4 But as Percy5 points out, the absence
of this contrast does not justify finding a distinction in meaning between the
two concepts, for the contrast involved in EV (TO!S) ovpccvols KOU ETT1 (TT\S) yfjs
is a traditional formula while this would not be the case with iv TOIS
ETroupocviois KCCI EV TOIS ETriyEiois. Odeberg's third reason in support of his
thesis that in Ephesians the term Eiroup&vios includes that which elsewhere is
expressed by that term and its opposite is 'the fact that the earthly man,
scilicet the believer, whereas expressly not in heaven (vi. 9), already in his
earthly life is in the midst of TCC STroupavioc (ii. 6; vi. 12) '.6 To say that the
believer is expressly not in heaven, however, begs the whole question of a
parallel between vi. 9 and i. 20, and forgets that, where Christ is (i. 20; vi. 9),
there the believer can also be said to be by virtue of his union with Christ.
Odeberg allows ii. 6 to inform his definition falsely so that the heavenlies
become assimilated into the experience of the Church instead of the Church
being seen to have its existence in the heavenly realm because it is in Christ.
It is significant that in his summing up of the meaning of the phrases in
Ephesians,7 he omits the reference which is crucial to an understanding of the
concept - i. 20. It is Christ's prior resurrection, ascension and exaltation in
the heavenlies which indicate that a definition of the formula cannot be
dependent on the Church's experience for its meaning.
Such a view as Odeberg's is not able to do justice to the two extreme poles
of the heavenlies found in i. 3 and vi. 12. Again he subsumes these under the
Church's experience. Rather than the spiritual blessings and the spiritual
hosts of wickedness being in the heavenlies in their own right, they are made
1 2
Ibid. p. 12. Ibid. p. 13.
3
Pace M. Dibelius, op. oil. p. 58, who comments, 'Fur den Autor ad Eph. gilt nur der einfache
Sinn "im Himmel", der aus 1. 20 f. leicht zu gevvinnen ist.'
6
* H. Odeberg, op. cit. pp. 8 f. E. Percy, op. cit. p. 181 n. 7.
6
H. Odeberg, op. cit. p. 9. ' Ibid. p. 13.

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 'THE HEAVENLIES' IN E P H E S I A N S 479
1
'the consequences of the Church being EV TOIS ETroupocvicns'. Most telling
against Odeberg's interpretation is the fact that his summary of the
' Weltbild' of Ephesians which is frequently quoted by others — iv TCO
KOCTUCO x^P'S XpioTou, ev TOIS ETroupccviois iv Xpiorcp, Xpioros 6 TOC TTCCVTCC kv
Traaiv TrAr]pou|JEVos2 —just does not fit, for it completely ignores the fact that
according to iii. 10 and vi. 12 there are some in the heavenlies without Christ.3
In contrast to Odeberg's view, that advocated here takes account of the
reality of evil in heaven and explains the Church's present involvement in
spiritual realities by allowing both heaven and earth to take on new signi-
ficance as they share in the drama of redemption, but without their being
merged into one stage on which the Church performs its role. There remain
two distinct levels in which the Church is involved, yet the Church terrestrial
is at the same time included in heaven with the Church celestial by virtue
of its union with the heavenly Christ.
It will have become clear that EV TOIS ETroupocviois is closely related to iv
TOIS oupocvols. But whereas 6 oupccvos can be used in various contexts and
with varying shades of meaning, including the eschatological, EV TOIS
ETTOupccvfois in this letter particularly places heaven in a Pauline eschatologi-
cal perspective. All that has been said positively in exegesis and negatively
in criticism of other interpretations has shown that involved in the formula is
the concept of heaven with its Old Testament double reference - cosmic and
transcendent - but now charged with further meaning. Heaven is viewed as
caught up in the history of redemption, and for Paul heaven is now caught up
in this history in the light of its new focus, Jesus Christ. Rather than turning to
Gnostic, Platonic or existentialist categories it has been seen that the use of the
formula can be most adequately understood by referring to the Old Testa-
ment and Jewish conception of heaven. Paul's view was derived ultimately
from the opening statement of the Old Testament. 'In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth' (Gen. i. i). Created reality had two major
parts. That part known as the heavens could be thought of in terms of the
atmospheric heaven (e.g. Ps. cxlvii. 8; Matt. vi. 26) or of the firmament
(e.g. Gen. i. 7, 14). As the upper or higher part of created reality it also came
to stand for the dwelling-place of God, pointing beyond its own createdness
to the divine transcendence (e.g. Ps. ii. 4; Matt. vi. 9; cf. also the substitution
of heaven for the divine name in later Judaism which was carried over into
New Testament usage in the term 'the kingdom of heaven'). Not only so, but
the upper limits of the firmament were regarded as concealing a presently
invisible created spiritual order (e.g. II Kings vi. 17; Job. i. 6; Zech. iii. 1,
cf. also Acts ix. 3 f.; xii. 7 f.). It is highly probable that Paul generally adopted

1 2
Ibid. Ibid. p. 19.
3
H . Bietenhard,/oc. «7., correctly sees this and also its eschatological significance in commenting,
'Dagegen sind die bosen Geistermachte £v TOIS Siroupccviois nicht " i n Christo", weshalb sie auch nicht
zum neuen, sondern zu diesem Aeon gehoren.'

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480 A. T. LINCOLN
this relatively unsophisticated Old Testament structure, for as Schoonhoven
points out, ' That Paul was not concerned about the number of heavens and
therefore not dependent upon apocalyptic or Rabbinic speculations is reflec-
ted in his use of the singular and plural form of "heaven".' 1 Heaven in this
structure had a priority as the upper and controlling part of the universe, yet
as seen in its created aspect it was involved in God's plan for the ages, for in
Jahweh's acts of judgement the heavens as well as the earth are shaken (cf.
Isa. li. 6; Amos viii. 9; Hag. ii. 6; Heb. xii. 26) and the latter part of Isaiah
can speak of the creation of a new heaven and new earth, indicating the need
for cosmic renewal. In later Judaism the evil powers in heaven are judged
(cf. I Enoch xvi. 1—4; xxi. 1—6; lxxxix. 59 f.) before the commencement of the
coming new age with its new heaven (I Enoch xci. 16).
Since Paul also shared this two-age eschatological structure which incor-
porated both heaven and earth in each age and since Jesus Christ as Lord
was central in his particular version of this structure, both heaven and earth
took on new significance as they were related to the Christ event in his think-
ing. In Ephesians then it would not be surprising if EV TOIS ETroupocviois were
to have reference to heaven as a distinct part of the created universe but one
which retains its concealing relation to the spiritual world and to God himself,
and thus also its aspect of incomprehensibility. The reference is to this heaven
as it takes its place in the cosmic drama of redemption, that is, in that act of
the drama which Christ has inaugurated by his death, resurrection and ascen-
sion. In Ephesians heaven still has a controlling function but now in a redemp-
tive sense, for the significance of the ascension of Christ, integral to this letter
and its formula, is that it involved initial and terminal points, both considered
as definite localities, the one where Christ was - on earth; the other where he
now is - in heaven. Because Christ is central in God's plan for heaven, the
Church 'in Christ' must also play its part in this realm. An interpretation of
the formula from this perspective fits without difficulty each of the Ephesian
references. As has been seen above, even iii. 10 and vi. 12 take their place
naturally within this definition, for heaven is involved in this present evil age
with the consequence that there will remain war in heaven until the consum-
matory victory brings in the fullness of the new age with its reconciled and
renewed cosmos. It should be remembered that Paul had previously used the
adjective Eiroupavios in a similar way of the eschatological one himself
(6 ECTXOCTOS 'ASocn), who is termed in I Cor. xv. 49 6 ETroupccvios. Once the
apostle had used the term again in connection with the heavenly Christ and his
Spirit in Eph. i. 3 to speak of the locality of their benefits, he continued to use
the formula as he viewed heaven from such an eschatological perspective.
In conclusion some brief general reflections on the implications arising
from this investigation of Iv TOIS ETroupocviois and on its relationship to the
1
C. Schoonhoven, The Wrath of Heaven (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1966), p. 64. On this back-
ground cf. also H. Bietenhard, op. cit. pp. 6-8; H. Traub, op. cit. pp. 497 ff.

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 ' T H E H E A V E N L I E S ' IN E P H E S I A N S 481
1
wider area of Pauline eschatology may be in order. Both the terminology and
the structure involved in the two-age concept of Jewish apocalyptic and
Rabbinic literature2 can be found in the Pauline writings. As has been seen
in passing, the one verse in which the two ages are explicitly contrasted is
Eph. i. 21. Many passages mention only 'this age' (e.g. Rom. xii. 2; Gal. i. 4;
II Cor. iv. 4), but in contexts where 6 peAAcov ocicov could conceivably have
been employed the apostle prefers f] (3occriA£ioc TOU 6EOO (cf. I Cor. vi. 9, 10;
xv. 50; Gal. v. 21; Eph. v. 5) or a reference to heaven, as will become appar-
ent. Within the letters of Paul, however, one finds a radical modification of
this two-age structure. One aspect has been generally recognized. As Cull-
mann phrases it, 'for Judaism the mid-point of the line which signifies
salvation lies in the future. The chronologically new thing which Christ
brought for the faith of primitive Christianity consists in the fact that for the
believing Christian the mid-point, since Easter, no longer lies in the future.'3
Thus for Paul who believed that the Messiah had already arrived and that in
him the age to come had become present reality, the old view of history based
on two successive antithetical ages became inappropriate. The arrival of the
coming age did not mark the consummation of history but rather provided a
new focus, a 'new division of time', and so Paul could continue to refer to the
period in which he was living as the 'present age' but makes it clear at the
same time that the ' age to come' began with Christ and is already a reality
in the believer's experience.
What is not so widely recognized and where this investigation sheds light is
that for Paul there is another aspect in his modification of the traditional
structure. This other aspect presupposes the conception which, as has been
noted above, Paul shared with Judaism; that the age structure was so arranged
that heaven as well as earth participated in the evil nature of this present age
and also in the renewal of the age to come. Paul conceives of the two ages as
coexistent, and in this period of overlap the believer is regarded as involved in
two spheres of existence simultaneously. Within this framework a vertical
point of view can come to expression as well as a linear or horizontal, for
since the two ages comprehend both heaven and earth, as the believer becomes
drawn into the history of redemption, he finds himself involved in these two
worlds - the heavenly and the earthly. Although this emphasis predominates
in the later prison epistles it is inherent in the new orientation given to the
apostle's thinking through the Christ event. Both spatial and temporal cate-
gories are stretched to the limit, but what necessitated such mental gym-
nastics in the first place? Not only did the empty tomb tell Paul where Jesus
was not, but, as the present continuing activity of Christ was faced, it also
1
I am particularly indebted at this point to Dr R. B. Gaffin, Associate Professor of New Testa-
ment, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, whose lectures on Pauline eschatology
provided the initial impetus for this article.
2
Cf. Strack and Billerbeck, op. cit. iv, 799 ft'.
3
O. Cullmann, Christ and Time (SCM, London, 1967), p. 81.

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482 A. T. LINCOLN
inevitably raised the question, ' Where is Jesus now?' One of the responses of
the early Christians, including Paul, was that their Lord had ascended, cf.
Eph. i. 20 f.; iv. 8-10. They considered that he had departed to a new sphere,
that of heaven, which would be appropriate to his continuing incarnate mode
of existence but also to his divine glory. For them the ascension was not a
merely negative event. Christ had not simply disappeared nor had he eva-
porated into a universal spirit. The ascension, as seen from one angle, involved
the departure and relocation of the incarnate Christ in a definitely local sense.
Yet while it could be closely tied to these spatial and temporal categories
when viewed in its relation to heaven as part of created reality, the other aspect
of heaven as God's abode with its corresponding incomprehensibility and
transcendence of these categories is also central to the ascension, for the incar-
nate Christ is at the same time the divine Christ who through his exaltation
enters into this other aspect of heaven (cf. the comments above on i. 20 and
the emphasis on transcendence in the reference to the Ascension in iv. 10).
With the resurrection and ascension of Christ the eschatological centre of
gravity had moved for Paul to the heavenly realm, so that a vertical referent
which has its focus in the concept of heaven plays as great a role as any future
age in his outlook. He can write that the believer waits for God's Son from
heaven (I Thess. i. 10) and is to set his mind on things above (Col. iii. 2).
This latter passage provides confirmation that union in Christ's acts extends
to his heavenly exaltation which, if one allows Paul's language here and in
other passages its full weight, involves a complete reorientation of the be-
liever's life. The believer is to seek TOC dvco, because Christ is there seated at
the right hand of God and the believer's life is hid with Christ in God.
Similarly in Phil. iii. 19, 20 the apostle can state that, in contrast to those who
have their minds set on earthly thingSj the believer's basic allegiance is to
heaven, for his citizenship is there - r\\xcov yap TO iroAiTEuua EV oupavois
UTrdpxEi. When the believer's present eschatological situation is in view, the
Pauline writings may focus on the present heavenly Christ and the role of
heaven in eschatology due to him in preference to the straightforward 6
UEAAGOV cdcov (cf. Heb. vi. 4). This is particularly the case in Ephesians. As
has been seen, God has first placed Christ iv T0T5 Efroupccviois (i. 20) and then
there has been a change in the believer's way of life (ii. 2, 10) because he
has been made to sit with Christ EV TOIS Eiroupocviois EV Xpiorw 'IrjaoO (ii. 6).
The spiritual benefits which the believer presently experiences (i. 3), he has
because 'in Christ' he is in the heavenlies. Yet this by no means necessitates
a rejection of the former futurist eschatology and a future perspective can be
found in i. 14, 21; ii. 7, 21; iv. 30; v. 5, 16, 27; vi. 8.
In contrast to the post-apostolic writings where the predominant emphasis
is on the heavenly,1 in the Pauline writings spatial and temporal terms are
1
Cf. F. H. Kettler, 'Enderwartung und himmlischer Stufenbau im Kirchenbegriff des nach-
apostolischen Zeitalters', T.L.Z- LXXIX (1954), 358 ff.

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 ' T H E H E A V E N L I E S ' IN EPHESIANS 483
held together as both heaven and earth are involved in the two-age structure.
Yet within this tension circumstances can dictate whether the emphasis is
placed on the one side or the other. One the one hand in the particular setting
of I Corinthians spatial language connoting realized eschatology is played
down because of the over-confident element among the Corinthian Chris-
tians. Although 'all things are yours' (iii. 21-3) and the church assembly in
worship is joined with the angels in heaven (xi. 10), the general emphasis is
one of eschatological reservation - for example, judging the world is still
future (vi. 2), marriage is still a valid institution because the present age
continues (ch. vii), and the form of this world is passing away (vii. 31). On the
other hand there is a different situation for the readers of Ephesians in Asia
Minor with the apparent danger of falling into a dualism where God is so
transcendent with respect to his alien creation that men can ignore moral
claims and unrestrainedly indulge their bodily appetites (iv. 17 f.; v. 3 f.;
cf. also iv. 14) -1 This dualism is denied by insistence that heaven and earth are
connected with each other by virtue of both creation and redemption (cf.
i. 10; ii. 18; iii. 15; iv. 8-10), and that the Church exists on both levels as
the usage of iv TOISfrroupccvioisso pointedly demonstrates.
A. T. LINCOLN

Mew Test. Stud. 19, pp. 483-489

ZEALOT AND PARA-ZEALOT

While I was duly grateful to Professor Brandon for his kind correction
{N.T.S. XVII, 453), there is a sense in which my statement can well stand.
I was thinking in terms of ideology rather than of membership or leadership
of a movement, and a great part of the late Professor Brandon's book is con-
cerned with showing that ideologically Jesus was at one with, or very close
to, the Zealots.
It is in his final analysis (p. 355) that he stops short of allowing Jesus to have
been a member or leader; and even here some doubt is expressed - it is a
'probability' that Jesus was not a Zealot. On the same page we are told that
'Zealotism produced a long roll of martyrs for Israel's freedom, and there are
some aspects ofJesus' career that would seem to entitle him to a place among
them'. We are also told, ibidem, that 'there seems to be nothing in the prin-
ciples of Zealotism, as enunciated by Judas of Galilee, that we have definite
evidence for knowing that Jesus would have repudiated'.
On the following page, however, a distinction is introduced in these terms:
'Where Jesus seems to have differed from Zealot policy was in the fact that
1
Cf. R. P. Martin, 'An epistle in search of a life-setting', Exp. T. LXXIX (1968), 296 ff.

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