Ephesians - Concordia Commentary

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In this Volume 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8) Historically, Ephesians was once considered the “Crown of the Pauline epistles,” in academic circles, but it has fallen out of favor. Put simply, that is a shame. In this commentary, Dr. Wilch delves in the history, language, and God breathed theology of Ephesians with an original translation. He also notes the prevalence of Ephesians in the Lutheran Confessions, emphasizing Ephesians’ relevance from a perspective of a Lutheran heritage. With beautiful rhetoric, the letter to the Ephesians addresses not only the congregation at Ephesus but also the whole church as corporate body.

Features

• An extensive history of the Grecian cult of Artemis present in Ephesus
• Consideration of the rhetorical and oral aspects of Ephesians

Additional Essays

• The City of Ephesus and Paul’s Relationship to it
• The Case for Pauline Authorship

View the rest of the series.

About the Author

Thomas M. Winger is president of and a professor at Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary (CLTS), St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. He is also a graduate of that institution (M.Div., 1990), after having studied at Concordia College, Ann Arbor, Michigan (B.A., 1985), and Westfield House, Cambridge, England. He pursued graduate studies at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri (S.T.M., 1992; Th.D., 1997).
 
Dr. Winger is the author of dozens of articles, many published in Lutheran Theological Review; the co-editor of three books; and a contributor to The Lutheran Study Bible. He has written studies for the theological commissions of Lutheran Church–Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England (ELCE). He was a member of the liturgy committee of Lutheran Service Book and is currently writing for its companion to the liturgy. He was pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Catharines, a German-English congregation, for six years before being called as a tutor at Westfield House. After seven years of teaching at that theological training house of the ELCE, he returned to Canada and has been a professor at CLTS since 2006 and its president since 2012.

Endorsments

"For too long we have had to wait for this commentary. The letter to the Ephesians had been neglected, not fitting into certain theologians’ way of thinking, and was believed not to represent authentic Pauline theology. This has now come to an end. We are gifted with an excellent and reliable explanation of this letter, its formation and contents. There is no question and no problem arising from this letter which Dr. Winger does not take up and discuss. There is no seemingly “dark” sentence or passage left unilluminated. He removes prejudices and opens our eyes to aspects and insights we had never noticed before. We have a sound teaching of apostolic Christology before us and will learn a lot about Baptism, ministry, and the church—right from the apostle’s writing. St. Paul is speaking to us again, quite directly. 

Years of intensive research and study lie behind this commentary, from which we can now profit. This solid, profound, and fascinating scholarly work is worthy of study, extremely helpful for preaching and teaching, and urgently needed in our day. I wish it would be in the hands of every pastor, teacher, and student, for it is a great gift to the Church."
—Dr. Jobst Schöne, Bishop Emeritus of the Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche (Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church), Germany

 
“Professor Winger has worked hard to produce this volume. I appreciate his manner of dealing thoroughly with classic scholarship. This solid volume will take a special place on my bookshelf. I warmly recommend it to everyone who appreciates both biblical and Lutheran theology.”
—Dr. Erkki Koskenniemi, Adjunct Professor, Finland (Åbo Akademi University, University of Helsinki, and University of Eastern Finland)

"If you want a commentary that takes a traditional approach to Paul's Letter to the Ephesians—no pseudonymous author here—and one that takes seriously both the Greek and the deep theology of this profound letter, then this is your commentary. Tom is fair in his assessment of positions but you always know where he stands. This is a great addition to the series." 
—Dr. James W. Voelz, Professor of Exegetical Theology, Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis

About the Series

The Concordia Commentary Series: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture is written to enable pastors and teachers of the Word to proclaim the Gospel with greater insight, clarity, and faithfulness to the divine intent of the Biblical text.

The series will cover all the canonical books of the Old and New Testament, with an original translation and meticulous grammatical analysis of the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek of each text. The foremost interpretive lens centers on the unified proclamation of the person and work of Christ across every Scriptural book.

The Commentary fully affirms the divine inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Scripture; Each passage bears witness to the confession that God has reconciled the world to Himself through the incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ His Son.

Authors expose the rich treasury of language, imagery, and thematic content of the Scripture, while supplementing their work with additional research in archaeology, history, and extrabiblical literature. Throughout, God’s Word emanates from authors careful attention and inculcates the ongoing life of the Church in Word, Sacrament, and daily confession.

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