Once you spoke in a vision, to your faithful people you said: “I have bestowed strength on a warrior; I have raised up a young man from among the people. I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed him. My hand will sustain him; surely my arm will strengthen him. The enemy will not get the better of him; the wicked will not oppress him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down his adversaries. My faithful love will be with him, and through my name his horn will be exalted. I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers. He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’ And I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—and I will not lie to David—that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.“
Psalm 89:19-37
2013-01-03
I’m translating “οὖσιν” as people since “ones,” while appearing in English, is not common. Thus, Paul is writing to the holy people, the believers in Ephesus. For the time being, taking the ἐν Ἐφέσῳ as original, I think we have two possibilities: a), either writing to believers is churches surrounding the city of Ephesus, or b), Paul is writing to believers who have become Christians since he left the city, perhaps in the various house churches which have popped up throughout, since Ephesus was a major city (perhaps 250.000 people (according to O’Brien, Ephesians, 48 ), economically, culturally, and religiously (remember Acts 19?). Either of these are possible, and since it is clear that Paul does not know the recipients (cf. 1.15) and throughout, the letter does not seem to deal with any extremely specific problem or issue, neither option greatly affects our understanding of the letter. Thus regardless of where they live, we do know the recipients are believers and are “faithful followers of Christ Jesus” (NLT) – I take the “πιστοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ” as a dative of association, that is: “faithful in relationship to Christ Jesus.” I really like the NLT’s rendering and have borrowed it above. That is, Paul aligns them with himself. Just as he is an apostle of Christ Jesus, the recipients of the letter are faithful followers of Jesus. Paul, right from the outset of his letter, emphasizes the unity between himself and those to whom he writes.
Thanks for commenting, Tia! Appreciate your analysis and will take a deeper look. Will also check out O’Brien, among others.