Section 205
57Chadwick argues further that a subsidiary purpose in the writing of Ephesians was to persuade members of Gentile churches which had not been founded by Paul to recognize his authority nevertheless as the duly appointed apostle of Jesus Christ to the whole Gentile world. “There must have been many such Gentile churches, which owed their existence to missionaries who stood right outside the Pauline circle” (“Die Absicht des Epheserbriefes,” p. 153). There is only one church, embracing both Jewish and Gentile believers; but within this one church the Gentile congregations, whether planted by Paul and his associates or by others, are called on to see Paul as their unique representative and to give him and his mission their personal loyalty. If this is so, then the destination of Ephesians should not be sought exclusively in the churches of the Lycus valley (which, owing their existence to Epaphras, fell within Paul’s apostolic sphere) but in a wider range of Gentile churches.
58See N. A. Dahl, “Adresse und Proömium des Epheserbriefes,” pp. 247-48.