How can I be sure that the canon decided in the 300s was legitimate since the church had gone so far astray in its doctrine by this point? How can we be sure that interlopers did not change the content of scripture? Example: It is alleged re: Ephesians 1:1 where the church in Ephesus is addressed that Ephesus was a later addition and the letter may not even be written to the Ephesians at all! -- Michael Konomos (Athens Georgia)
Yes, the church was certainly drifting in the 300s and earlier, and yet nearly all of the New Testament canon had crystallized long before the Athanasian canon of the 360s to which you allude. So many manuscripts have survived that few NT scholars--even those who reject the authority of the Bibl --question that the reconstructed Greek text in our possession today corresponds closely to the original writings. This is an important point; when even the skeptics are on your side, you can be fairly sure you are walking on solid ground.
As for Ephesians 1:1, it is true that the oldest manuscripts have a lacuna or blank space after the words "to the church in..." I have seen the oldest surviving manuscript myself and can affirm that the words "in Ephesus" are missing. It is possible Paul intended the letter to be distributed as a circular, in which case Ephesus might have been the first or even the last destination for this glorious epistle. The "letters to the seven churches" (Revelation 2-3), to illustrate, were clearly intended to be delivered along a "postal" route, as one may readily see by glancing at a map of first century Asia Minor. Ephesians is a general theological work and its initial (or final) "postal address" is of no relevance to understanding or accepting its message. This is not the case with most other NT letters, which cannot be appreciated without knowing exactly who was receiving them and what the local historical context was. (E.g. 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Galatians, to name a few.)
Finally, I think there is insufficient evidence to deny that Ephesians was ever addressed to the Ephesians. Considering that Paul often wrote letters to the Christian communities he established, it would be odd if he wrote nothing to the Ephesians. Consider some of the Pauline letters in relation to churches the apostle established (sequentially) in the book of Acts: Galatians (Acts chapters 16 and 18), Philippians (chapter 16), 1-2 Thessalonians (17), 1-2 Corinthians (18). There is no need for me to point out that the church was established in Ephesus in Acts 19.
Interestingly, Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD) wrote one of his seven letters to the Ephesians, and even Jesus Christ himself did not omit them from the seven (representative) congregations in his final words of warning and encouragement at the end of the New Testament canon.
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