Ephesians 6:21-22

IV. CLOSE OF THE EPISTLE

Ephesians 6:21-24

1. Personal intelligence is brought by the bearer of the letter

Ephesians 6:21-22

21But that ye also may know57 my affairs, and how I do [the things concerning me, how I fare]58, Tychicus, a [the] beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things [shall make all known59 to you]: 22Whom I have sent unto you for the same [this very] purpose, that ye might [may]60 know our affairs, and that he might [may] comfort your hearts.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Ephesians 6:21. But that ye also may know, ἵνα δὲεἰδῆτε καὶ ὑμεῖς.—Passing over to another subject (δέ) the Apostle hastens from the intercession for himself to a conclusion. He wishes that in order to make proper intercession for him, they might also know his condition more exactly, referring them, however, to oral communications. The καί before ὑμεῖς points to others (Bengel; perinde ut alii). The immediate antithesis is Tychicus and those who are near Paul in his imprisonment. Not merely those about him (Ephesians 6:22 : τὰ περὶ ἠμῶν), even those more remote should know respecting him. It cannot be in antithesis to the Apostle himself (Rueckert and others); this gives no meaning. Even Stier’s view: You also on your part should know what I on my part experience and suffer, does not correctly explain the καί before ὑμεῖς. To think of the Colossians (Harless, Meyer, Bleek) or of Timothy (comp. 2 Timothy 4:12) is not warranted by anything in the passage.61

The things concerning me, how I fare, set forth a double object of the communication: τὰ κατ̓ ἐμέ (Philippians 1:12; Colossians 4:7) denotes the external circumstances, τί πράσσω the personal demeanor and state in the same.62—Tychicus—shall make all known to you.—Πάντα comprises what has already been referred to, pointing to the full and detailed deportment (γνώρίσει) of Tychicus, who is mentioned in Acts 20:4; Col 4:7-8; 2 Timothy 4:12; Titus 3:12, without imparting any further information than that he was a native of Asia and a serviceable companion of Paul, who here characterizes him as:

The beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord.—Ὁ designates him as a stout-hearted Christian, καὶ πιστὸς διάκονος as a reliable servant, a servant of the gospel, in accordance with the context, which indicates that Tychicus would come not for personal reasons, but in the interest of the Church (παρακαλέση τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν), and in agreement with Colossians 4:7 (where “minister and fellow-servant in the Lord “marks him as a servant who with Paul is a δοῦλος of Christ). We should not then think (of the ecclesiastical office of the diaconate (Estius), nor yet of a personal servant to Paul himself (Meyer).63 The added phrase ἐν κυρίῳ, “in the Lord,” is to be joined with both ἁδελφός and διάκονος since they are connected without the article, thus confirming the reference to the ministry of the Gospel, through which he is a brother; his Christian character he manifests in the service of Christianity. Christ is the sphere of life and effort for Tychicus; hence ἐν κυρίῳ which refers back to ἀδελφός also.

Ephesians 6:22. Whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, ὅν ἕπεμψα πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰς αὑτὸ τοῦτο, for the very purpose, which has been already mentioned [“I have sent” is on the whole preferable to “I send” (Wordsworth) or “I sent” (Alford).—E.]—That ye may know our affairs.64—Ἵ να must be parallel to the first one, as γνῶτε to εἰδῆτε, Τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν merely extends the circle: the situation, not merely of the Apostle, but of his companions also (Colossians 4:10-14; Philemon 1:10; Philemon 1:23-24). Paul does not send there merely in his own interest.

And that he may comfort your hearts, καὶ παρακαλέσῃ τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν.—This denotes the consequence of communication, or the impression which accompanies it. Accordingly it is not necessary to give prominence to ministerial address as the signification here (Stier), Bengel: Ne offenderetis in vinculismeis. [“It is better, however, owing to our ignorance of the exact state of the church, to leave the precise reference undefined, and to extend it generally to all particulars in which they needed it” (Ellicott).—R.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Personal and Congregational interests stand in close connection. Still the latter are the preponderating ones; the former must fall into the back-ground. 2. Independency. The proposition of Robinson in the beginning of the 17th century: cœtum quemlibet particularem esse totam, integram et perfectam ecclesiam ex suis partibus constantem immediate et independentem [quoad alias ecclesias sub ipso Christo), cannot be justified from the Apostolic age, in which the local churches stood in active intercourse and received suggestions from various quarters. [Every attempt to carry into practice this extreme view of Robinson has resulted either in ecclesiastical anarchy or a quasi-independency, such as exists in Congregational churches.—R.]

3. Our times are successful in spreading intelligence in many ways from one parish to another. This is well both for those who desire such personally imparted communications, and for those who make a sacrifice in this service, in order to receive as well as give refreshing, revival, consolation and strength. It always happens so, where the inner life is in action, even though the organization and polity are still incomplete, as in the early churches. Care however should be taken, that there be not mixed with this a dissipation of the strength required for the immediate task, or the merest of curiosity. It is precisely the fresh, glad taking root in the local churches which bears flower and fruit to be imparted for the edification of other churches. [These remarks, so pertinent to such an event as the sending of Tychicus, have a bearing on the influence of ecclesiastical bodies on the congregations within whose bounds they assemble, but more especially on the labors of I those ministers who travel from place to place as! “evangelists,” “revival preachers.” The good and the evil attendant on their labors are clearly indicated above. Such journeyings find their parallel not in the travel of the Apostles, but in those of Tychicus.—R.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Comp. Doctr. Notes.—Starke:—Preachers should behave to each in a friendly, peaceable, affectionate, brotherly manner.—It pleases God very much, when preachers are concerned for their hearers, and hearers for their preachers.—Rieger:—More particular intelligence respecting each other awakens also the more fitting intercession for each other.—[It ought to be the aim of the “religious newspaper,” to do for churches and families what Tychicus was to do for Paul: Communicate such personal intelligence as would comfort the hearts of those who read. Those editors who do this rather than to minister to pride or to provoke angry discussion, well deserve the title “beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord.”—R.]

Footnotes:

[57] Ephesians 6:21—[The order in B. K. L., great majority of cursives, fathers, is: εἰδῆτε καὶ ὑμεῖς (so Tischendorf, Meyer, Alford); א. A. D. E. F., Latin fathers:καὶ ὑμεῖς εἰδῆτε (so Lachmann, Ellicott). The former admits of the best explanation of the variation (see Meyer).—R.]

Ephesians 6:21; Ephesians 6:21.—[ How I fare is less ambiguous than How I do, while the things concerning me is literal and avoids the somewhat uneuphonic juxtaposition: my affairs, how I fare.—R.]

Ephesians 6:21; Ephesians 6:21—(“The order: ὑμῖν γνωρίδει is accepted by Tischendorf, Meyer, Alford, Wordsworth, Ellicott on the authority of A. K. L. nearly all cursives, good versions, fathers, although א. B. D. E. F. (Lachmann) sustain γνωρίσει ὑμῖν. The probability of a conformation to Colossians 4:7 leads to this view.—The E. V. deviates from the order of the Greek, which would be best brought out by a change to the passive form: “all shall be made known to you by Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, whom I have sent,” etc. Alford: “Tychicus shall make known all to you, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, whom,” etc.—R.]

Ephesians 6:22; Ephesians 6:22.—[ May instead of “might,” “in accordance with the law of the succession of the tenses” (Ellicott).—R.]

[61][Alford: “As I have been going at length into the matters concerning you, so if you also on your part, wish to know,” etc. But this is scarcely an obvious antithesis. Hodge explains indefinitely: “You as well as other Christian friends who have manifested solicitude about me in my bonds.” The presence of καί here has been used as an argument in favor of the priority of the Epistle to the Colossians, who are supposed to be referred to (antithetically) in καί, but though its presence would be naturally explained were the priority of that Epistle fully established, it scarcely amounts to an argument in favor of that hypothesis.—R.]

[62][Not “what I do,” for Paul always did one thing (Meyer).—]

[63][Alford and Ellicott follow Meyer, in taking διάκονος in the sense of “servant,” Paul’s servant, not the servant of the Gospel; they also join ἐν κυρίῳ with this term alone, as indicating that his service for Paul was yet in Christ. But Braune’s view is the more natural one—The adjective πιστός here means “trusty,” “trustworthy,” but with no reference to the trustworthiness of his message, as Chrysostom and Bengel imply, since he was probably known to the Ephesians, though not to the Colossians (Meyer).—R.]

[64][Alford, referring to the fact that this verse occurs word for word in Colossians 4:8, except that γνῷ τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν is substituted there, asks; “Does not this variation bear the mark of genuineness with it?” Braune (Colossians, p. 82) accepts the reading which conforms exactly to this verse, but the other is defended in the additional notes.—R.]