Ak – Sha’ul’s Greeting 1: 1-2

Sha’ul’s Greeting
1: 1-2

Sha’ul’s greeting DIG: Who was Sha’ul, what was his background, and where did he come from? Who did he study under? As an apostle, who was he sent to minister to? Why is that important to understand? What does “hagios” mean? What was the city of Ephesus like?

REFLECT: What does the word shalom mean? To whom would you like to give that message? Why does Sha’ul address his readers as “the people of God?” Explain. Is it helpful to think of yourself as a “hagios?” Why or why not? When were you justified for all time?

Sha’ul was a Jewish follower of Yeshua, or in modern terms, a Messianic Jew.

All Sha’ul’s letters begin in a similar way. Following the style of the letter-writing of the day, he mentions first the writer, then the readers, and then comes to the greeting. But the conventional manner of the time is lifted to a higher level. Writer and reader are described from the standpoint of their relationship to Messiah Yeshua; and the conventional greeting became a blessing for all believers.⁴⁷ There are seven important points in Sha’ul’s greeting. From: Sha’ul, by God’s will an apostle of the Messiah Yeshua. To: God’s people living in Ephesus, that is, those who are trusting in the Messiah Yeshua: Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

1. Sha’ul: This is the Hebrew name of the writer commonly called Paul. He was born to a traditional Jewish family outside of Isra’el in the city of Tarsus in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). As a young rabbinical student, he was invited to study in Jerusalem with the top Pharisaic Rabbi of the day, Gal’liel (Acts 22:1-3). He must have been a promising and charismatic leader, as he was on the forefront of opposing the new Yeshua movement within the Jewish community (Acts 9:1-2). Sha’ul comes to personal faith in Yeshua as the Messiah through a dramatic encounter on a journey to Damascus (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click Bc – Sha’ul Turns from Murder to the Messiah). From there, he received his new calling to be a leader in the Yeshua movement, not only among his Jewish brothers, but he would be especially instrumental in taking that message of the Messiah to the Gentile world of the first century.

As with any Jew of his time (and still today), Sha’ul received two names at birth: a Hebrew name plus a name of the common language of his community. Sha’ul was clearly his given Hebrew name that he would have used in the Jewish community, especially in Jerusalem. Some commentators believe in Acts 13:9 that Sha’ul took the name of Paul (Greek Paulos) to prove his “conversion” to a new religion and as a rejection of his previous Jewish life. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sha’ul did not look up his Messianic faith as a conversion to a new religion, but as a fulfillment of the Jewish hope in the Messiah. In Acts 23:6, Sha’ul proclaims (in the present tense): I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead.” He thus affirmed that he still lived as a traditional Jew even with his new faith perspective. Simply put, Sha’ul was a Jewish follower of Yeshua, or in modern terms, a Messianic Jew. It is important to note that the switch of names in Acts 13 from Sha’ul to Paul is therefore not a statement of conversion, but simply reflects the use of the Greek name as he is embarking on his First Missionary Journey (see Acts Bm – Paul’s First Missionary Journey) among the Gentiles.

2. An apostle: The Greek word used here is apostolos, meaning, one sent out for a particular purpose. In Sha’ul’s case, he was designated as one sent out to share the message of Yeshua as the Messiah. However, the foundational Hebrew word, shaliach, has a stronger emphasis. A shaliach is a person sent out, but is considered “equal to the sender himself” (Tractate Berachot 34). It is an amazing statement of Sha’ul that he considered himself called to directly represent Yeshua Himself. Yeshua, having ascended to the Father, delegated His Kingdom work to His hand-chosen sh’lichim (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Mo – The Great Commission). The allusion to his apostleship was for the purpose of giving the letter an official character. Sha’ul was chosen a bit later to help fulfill this Messianic mission (First Timothy 2:7). By using the word apostle to describe his calling, Sha’ul was also emphasizing that he spoke the very words that Yeshua had given him. There are those today who believe that the words of Yeshua are truth and that somehow Sha’ul deviated away from His message. Many times people compare the teachings of Yeshua to some apparently contrary teachings of Sha’ul. But these questions are resolved when one remembers the original context of the writers. Yeshua’s focus was on the Jewish community of Isra’el, while Sha’ul’s focus was on the Gentile communities abroad. A careful study of both Yeshua and Sha’ul will confirm that they are in complete agreement on the message of the Good News and the broader B’rit Chadashah. Sha’ul’s claim to be an apostle underscores this perspective.

3. Messiah Yeshua: Both of these words are key to a Jewish understanding of Sha’ul’s writings. The original Hebrew, Mashiach, or Aramaic, Messiah, was translated by the Greeks as Christos. That is why the English word Christ often seems foreign or confusing to the average Jew. It seems to speak of a Greek religion or even a foreign god. By using the Anglicized term Messiah, we are putting the world back closer to the original understanding of all that is implied to the Jewish reader. Certainly, the phrase Messiah Yeshua would hold special significance to Sha’ul as a traditional Jew who embraced Yeshua as the Promised One.

The second term, Yeshua, is the Hebrew personal name for Jesus and means salvation. This was the original name given to Him, as Hebrew names in biblical times were considered descriptive or even prophetic. This One is to be called Yeshua because of His mission to His people and ultimately the entire world (Matthew 1:21). As the message of Yeshua went international, it is to be expected that the name would be translated into various languages. The name Yeshua became Yesus in Greek primarily because the Greek language has no shin/sh sound, but only a sigma/s. Also European languages often wrote their “y” sound with a “j” that ultimately led to the spelling “Jesus” in English. All these transliterations are acceptable, as ADONAI is certainly multi-lingual! Yet, while it is acceptable, it is preferable that His original Hebrew name be used as a witness to the Jewish people who hear the name “Yeshua” in their synagogue prayers. Also, the name Jesus has negative connotations to Jews because of the persecution they have endured in that name.⁴⁸

4. God’s people: Paul addresses his letter to God’s people. The Greek word is hagios. He took it right out of the terminology of the pagan Greek religions. He had to. There were no other terms that he could have used in the Greek language. There it meant devoted to the gods. The term was also used for persons who were devoted to the service of a god. This is the genius of the Greek word that many Bibles translate as “saints” in the B’rit Chadashah. The parallel words in the TaNaKh are “the kedoshim” and “the righteous of the TaNakh” meaning holy ones. Here, the Complete Jewish Bible translates hagios as God’s people.

The words “saint, sanctify, sanctification, hallow, holy, and holiness in the B’rit Chadashah are all translations of the same Greek root hagi. The verb means to set apart for God, and refers to the act of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh setting apart for ADONAI the sinner who has been adopted in the family of God to salvation, taking him out of the first Adam and placing him in the Last Adam (see Ao – Chosen in Messiah). This is where the new believer is justified, an act performed once for all time at the moment the sinner places his faith in the Lord Yeshua Messiah as his Savior. This is followed by progressive sanctification, a process that goes on all through the earthly life of the believer, in which that person is being gradually conformed into the image of Messiah. That person is called a hagios.⁴⁹

5. In Ephesus: The city was a thriving harbor of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Being far from Isra’el, both in distance and in religious lifestyle, Ephesus was primarily a pagan city (see Ah – The Church at Ephesus). It even boasted one of the wonders of the ancient world: the Temple of Diana. While that pagan influence was very observable in the biblical accounts, many forget that the earliest followers of the Yeshua movement were from the significant Jewish community of the city. We are told that Sha’ul visited the local synagogue there for one week as his introduction to the city (Acts 18). Subsequently, he was invited to spend three months in the Jewish community teaching in the synagogue. As a byproduct, the Gentile community was up in arms, as this religious rival was bad for their pagan businesses (see Ag – Idol-Makers Start a Riot in Ephesus).

But Sha’ul was encouraged by the open doors at Ephesus and later spent three full years teaching and mentoring those growing Yeshua followers (Acts 20). It is ironic that as Sha’ul made his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, it was some of the Jewish community of Ephesus who would stir up a riot leading to his arrest (see Acts Co – Paul’s Arrest in Jerusalem). It seemed to be poetic justice, as Sha’ul, serving out his prison sentence in Rome, wrote this letter to the Yeshua followers in Ephesus.⁵⁰

6. Grace: Now we come to one of the most important words in this letter, and indeed in the entire B’rit Chadashah – grace (Greek: charis). In short, grace means getting what we don’t deserve, opposed to mercy, meaning not getting what we do deserve. Both Luke, in Luke 19:9, and Sha’ul in Romans 6:17 and Second Corinthians 8:16 use grace in its classical meaning of thankfulness. But how this purely classical meaning of the word describes the crucifixion (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ls – Then They Brought Jesus to Golgotha, the Place of the Skull). All the human race could expect in view of its sin, was the righteous wrath of a holy God, that and eternal banishment from His glorious presence. But instead, that holy God stepped down from His judgment seat and took upon Himself the guilt and penalty of human sin, thus satisfying His justice and making possible to bestow His grace to all who would believe in Him.

Thus, the word charis comes to its highest and most exalted meaning in the B’rit Chadashah. It means that there is no room for good works on the part of the sinner as a means of obtaining his salvation. Sha’ul sets grace over works as things directly in opposition to one another so far as the means to salvation is concerned (see the commentary on Romans Bd – Justification in the TaNaKh). But Sha’ul is very careful to make plain that good works naturally flow from grace (Titus 2:11-12). Furthermore, he shows that this grace is unlimited in its resources. In Romans 5:20 he says: Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. The word increased is from a different Greek word than that which is translated abounded. It is a compound word made up of a verb which means to exist in superabundance, and a prefixed preposition which means above. Therefore, the translation could read: Where sin increased, grace existed in superabundance, and then more grace was added to this superabundance.

7. Shalom: The word is, of course, a common greeting among Jews, but it is more than that. The root word shalem means wholeness, health, well-being, and tranquility. The Greek noun is eirene the verb eiro. The latter means to join. That is, when things are disjointed, there is a lack of harmony and well-being. But when they are joined together, there is both. Our Lord made shalom through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20) in that He, by His death, satisfied the demands of the Torah, which we broke, thus making it possible for a righteous and holy God to bestow mercy upon the believing sinner and to do so without violating His justice. ADONAI thus bound together against the believing sinner and YHVH, thus making shalom. There is therefore, a state of untroubled and undisturbed well being for the sinner who places his faith in the Savior. The Torah of God has nothing against him, and he can look to the Father unafraid and unashamed. This is justifying shalom.

But Sha’ul, in writing to the Ephesian believers, was writing to those who were already enjoying this kind of shalom. Therefore, the shalom he is speaking about is sanctifying shalom, that state of untroubled, undisturbed tranquility and wellbeing produced in the heart of the yielded believer by the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (see the commentary on Galatians Bv – Walk by the Ruach, and Not the Desires of the Flesh). We have this shalom to the extent that we are yielded to the Spirit and are conscious of, and dependent on, His ministry for us. ⁵¹ Sha’ul wishes his readers the shalom that can only come from the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, God the Father, and Yeshua, the Prince of Peace (see the commentary on Isaiah Ck – He Will Be Called the Prince of Peace).

Dear Heavenly Father, Your grace is absolutely fantastic! Praise and worship from the depths of our hearts for Your gracious offer of adoption as Your sons/redemption thru the blood of Messiah Yeshua (Ephesian 1:4-7) and your purpose to unite all things “in Messiah” (Ephesians 1:10). Your Great Grace and Mercy causes me to humbly bow and lift up my heart to worship You with all we have! We praise You for being Holy (Isaiah 6:3), Almighty – Red Sea crossing for Isra’el while Egyptians drown (Exodus 14:21-30), All-Powerful – You helped young David defeat the giant Goliath (First Samuel 17:33;51), All wise – God knowing how to get Jonah to serve You when he ran away. Your children delight in praising You for Your marvelous grace and for how wonderful You are always! In Messiah Yeshua’s holy Name and power of His resurrection. Amen