God names
every family on earth and in heaven, including every angel, whether good or bad; or
the whole family of believers—Jews and Gentiles—including those who are alive and those who have departed.
Paul bows before the God who names every family
in heaven and earth. The question is, does God name every family,
as in, all created beings, or the whole family,
as in, the members of the church?
We have good reason to think that Paul refers to every family
in heaven and earth, which means that Paul bows before the one who is sovereign over all creation. We know from the Old Testament that God spoke creation into existence (Gen. 1). There are also occasions when Old Testament writers will point out that God is the one who names all of the stars (Ps. 147:4; Isa. 40:26). The idea is that God is the supreme creator who gives names to all of the objects of reality. It is also interesting to note that when Paul writes that every family
in heaven and earth is named from God, he uses the present tense of the verb to name.
This is important because the present tense is used for ongoing action. In other words, all things are not only created by God, but they remain in existence by his continued naming.
Some authors argue that Paul here refers to the whole family,
which is the church. Paul bows before the Father who names all the families of the church, both those alive and those already in heaven. These authors contend that the preposition from
secures this interpretation because when Paul says that whole family
is named from God, the from
confines us to the notion of family lineage. In other words, the whole family is named as being from God’s lineage, which implies the believers. The problem with this argument is that ultimately the whole creation is of God’s lineage
in the sense that nothing can exist without God as its source.
Still, these authors also argue that the broad and immediate context suggest that Paul has the church in mind. That is because in Ephesians 2:19 he highlights that the Gentiles are of the household of God, and in Ephesians 3:6 he states that they are fellow heirs. In fact, the unity of the household of God makes known the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:10). Thus, when Paul says he bows before God, his point is that he bows before the father who names the whole family of believers. The problem here is that, while it is true that Paul highlights the unity of the church, he also highlights the glory of God. He has explained that Christ’s name is above every name, in heaven and earth (Eph. 1:21). Also, the manifold wisdom of God is made known to the good and bad rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Thus, it is no surprise for Paul to point out that the God who he bows before, is the God who named all the created intelligences, in heaven and earth.
In the end, it is best to see Eph. 3:15 as an important qualifier. Paul bows before the Father to ask that the Gentiles would be strengthened by his Spirit (Eph. 3:16). And the Father before whom Paul bows is not just any being, but the sovereign Creator who named every intelligent being in heaven and earth.
Interpretation 1:
God names every family in heaven and on earth, including every angel, whether good or bad.
Summary:
Paul explains to the Ephesians that he bows before the Father, asking him to strengthen the believers. In the midst of this explanation, he points out the sovereignty of God over all creation by stating that the God he bows before is the God who names every family on earth and every angel in heaven. The statement assures the Ephesians of the sovereignty of God.
All of creation came into existence by the word of God, so that every family in heaven and on earth is technically named by God. Through Christ and faith in him, we have access to the supreme Creator and foundation of all reality.
Advocates:
Frederick Bruce
Stephen Fowl
Harry Hoehner
Thomas Slater
Frank Thielman
Minor differences:
The heart of the discussion over Ephesians 3:15 is whether to translate the Greek πᾶσα πατριὰ as every family
or whole family.
If πᾶσα πατριὰ is rendered as every family,
the notion is that Paul has all created intelligent beings in mind, whether human or angel, good or bad. If the phrase is translated whole family,
authors argue it refers to the family of believers. Our authors, with the exception of Frederick Bruce, agree that the phrase refers to all created intelligences and so should be translated every being.
While a close reading of Bruce suggests that he agrees that the phrase refers to every family of the human race, and the angels, he prefers to translate πᾶσα πατριὰ as all fatherhood.
1 Bruce does this because he notices a wordplay in the Greek. In Ephesians 3:15 Paul refers to God as πατήρ and now in Ephesians 3:15 he explains that God the πατήρ created all πατριά. In Greek, the words have similar sounds. Bruce wants to preserve this feature of the text, so he translates πατριά as fatherhood
instead of the more common family.
Harry Hoehner objects to this move by Bruce, arguing that the Greek term πατριά never carries a sense of fatherhood
but has to do with lineage, descendant, clan, and family line.2 While it would be interesting for English readers to perceive Paul’s play on words between πατήρ and πατριά, unfortunately πατριά simply cannot be translated in such a way as to retain this while keeping the correct meaning of the noun.
Arguments
Interpretation 2:
God names the whole family of believers—Jews and Gentiles—including those who are alive and those who have departed.
Summary:
The Ephesians were dead in their sins when they were made alive with Christ and raised with him to the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5). Thus, through the work of Christ, both Jews and Gentiles are united as one family, displaying the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10). All the families in heaven and on earth who have their faith in Christ are named as members of God’s family.
Advocates:
Steven Baugh
Trevor Grizzle
William Hendriksen
Harry Uprichard
Minor differences:
Our authors agree that when Paul refers to the whole family
he means the whole family of believers. In other words, Paul is not highlighting God’s supremacy as creator, but his supremacy as father who names a new family under Christ.7 Still, there is a minor difference between Steven Baugh and William Hendriksen. For Baugh, the family in heaven and on earth includes both humans and angels. He makes this clear by providing a quote from John Calvin: There is but one family which ought to be reckoned, both in heaven and on earth, both among angels and among men.
8 Hendriksen disagrees, arguing that the context is about the unity of the church as displayed by the inclusion of the Gentiles as children of God.9 For him, the angels are not in view in Ephesians 3:15; rather, the people of God who have departed and already reside with God are in view.10
Arguments
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,