Rikkyo University
Ephesians 5:18–20 within a Theology of the Church as the Family of God and Temple of the Spirit
This paper will explain the relationship of the three exhortations in Eph 5:18–20 and their position in Ephesians as a result of combining scriptural allusions in the application of the letter’s theology of the church as the family of God and temple of the Spirit.
The exhortations express a theology of the church as the family of God through alluding to Prov 23:31 within its context in LXX Proverbs. Within this context, refraining from drunkenness appears as the conduct of a wise son in relation to his father. The allusion is demonstrable through verbal commonalities: (1) μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ, (2) speaking/singing together with the righteous, (4) “walking,” and (5) father-son language. Contributing to establishing this last connection are (a) the rearrangement of the sayings in LXX Proverbs resulting in closer proximity of repeated father-son language to the prohibition of drunkenness in 23:31, (b) the exhortation to be imitators of God as children that marks the new section in Eph 5:1, and (c) the reference to God as πατήρ in Eph 5:20.
The exhortations further express a theology of the church as the temple of the Spirit in that alluding to the tabernacle/temple with its regulations and activities is the one commonality that links the three exhortations: (1) drunkenness was forbidden for those engaged in tabernacle/temple service, (2) filling by the diving Spirit recalls the filling of the tabernacle/temple by the divine glory, and (3) the activities of singing and giving thanks are activities particularly associated with the tabernacle/temple.
These allusions demonstrate the relationship of the exhortations in 5:18–20 to major ecclesiastical themes in Ephesians while enriching an understanding of how the letter’s theology and ethics are shaped by its Hellenistic Jewish context.