We were translating the first part of Ephesians in my Greek Reading class the other day and I was suddenly struck by the words τοῖς οὖσιν (Greekish: “to the ones being”) in verse 1. You may know that there is a debate about whether Paul wrote Ephesians, and related to that question is whether the epistle was in fact written to the Ephesians. You find the words ἐν Ἐφέσῳ (“in Ephesus”) in brackets in our modern editions of the Greek text (UBS4 and NA27) because the committee deciding on the most accurate Greek text had a difficult time deciding on whether it was truly in the original document. The evidence for “in Ephesus” is not born out in some of the most important manuscripts of the Greek text from the early church. Here is Metzger’s entry for the verse in his Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (to my non-Bible-geeky friends: don’t worry too much about the technical stuff):

The words ἐν Ἐφέσῳͅ are absent from several important witnesses (P⁴⁶ א* B* 424^c 1739) as well as from manuscripts mentioned by Basil and the text used by Origen. Certain internal features of the letter as well as Marcion’s designation of the epistle as “To the Laodiceans” and the absence in Tertullian and Ephraem of an explicit quotation of the words ἐν Ἐφέσῳ have led many commentators to suggest that the letter was intended as an encyclical, copies being sent to various churches, of which that at Ephesus was chief. Since the letter has been traditionally known as “To the Ephesians,” and since all witnesses except those mentioned above include the words ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, the Committee decided to retain them, but enclosed within square brackets.

So the way it looks is: τοῖς οὖσιν [ἐν Ἐφέσῳ] (“to the ones being [in Ephesus]“). I haven’t done much research into this Ephesians authorship debate, so my curiosity about this phrase will, I hope, be answered by someone who has. We had read the beginning of 1 Corinthians the week just prior to this in Greek Reading, so I recalled that in that letter Paul indicates the recipients of his letter by using the same kind of phrasing: τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ οὔσῃ ἐν Κορίνθῳ (Greekish: “to the church of God, to the one being in Corinth”). See also 2 Corinthians 1:1, Romans 1:7, and Philippians 1:1. So in Ephesians, what would happen if we lost “in Ephesus”? The author states that it is: “To the saints (holy ones), to the ones being ___ and faithful in Christ Jesus.” I suppose this could mean: “to the ones being also faithful in Christ Jesus.” Given the other standard letter openings, though, that seems unlikely. It would seem that either it was written to the ones being “in Ephesus” or the author forgot to specify the city in which the “ones” “were”. I suppose this could fit into the idea, mentioned above by Metzger, that this was an “encyclical“. So maybe the missing specified city could be thought of as: “to the ones being [in "fill in the blank with your city here"]“.

Anybody have an opinion or some more information about this element of the first verse of Ephesians?

Update (05/07/07): Jim mentions in his comment that my “the ones being” is a little too formal here and suggests that “those who are” would be more appropriate. I thought that enough people would have a question about this that I should make a comment in the original body of the post. I completely agree! I wouldn’t keep “the ones being” in a final, smooth translation. But I like to start my translating as wooden, and as my Greek Reading instructor puts it, “Greekish” as I can. After I figure out settle on an opinion of what’s going on grammatically, I smooth it out. That’s just my personal style. Sometimes the transition is instantaneous or within seconds; in a case like this, it takes longer for me.

By the way, I recommend you check out Chris Spinks’ response in the comments. Chris recently taught the book of Ephesians, so this stuff is fresh in his mind.