ἐν χριστῷ (Ephesians)

[jeffreyrequadt]

I'm studying Ephesians, and I'm struggling with the phrase ἐν χριστῷ in Ephesians. I can do word searches, but I really don't want to try to find every occurrence in Greek literature of ἐν + personal name. For those of you familiar with Greek literature, can you send me in the direction of other (non-biblical) texts which use a similar idea that I can compare with Ephesians? Or a study that has done this? I don't want to re-invent the wheel.

[Scott Lawson]

I'm studying Ephesians, and I'm struggling with the phrase ἐν χριστῷ in Ephesians. I can do word searches, but I really don't want to try to find every occurrence in Greek literature of ἐν + personal name. For those of you familiar with Greek literature, can you send me in the direction of other (non-biblical) texts which use a similar idea that I can compare with Ephesians? Or a study that has done this? I don't want to re-invent the wheel.

Jeffrey,
See BDAG εν 4c.

Εν τω κυριω
Scott Lawson

[Scott Lawson]

...and by εν τω κυριω I mean BDAG's χυριος 1.

[SusanJeffers]

Hi Jeff --

If you're interested in εν χριστω in Ephesians one excellent place to start is all the occurrences of εν χριστω in Ephesians... to try to get a handle on what Paul had in mind and heart, particularly, by his use of this phrase in Ephesians, particularly...

Eph 1:1, 3; 2:6, 7, 10, 13; 3:6, 21; 4:32

Makes a nice devotional, even apart from its analytical value

BDAG εν 4c attached - more what you've asked for... I'm assuming this falls under "fair use" --

χαρις σοι, και ειρηνη, εν Χριστω Ιησου,

Susan Jeffers

[Eeli Kaikkonen]

Con Campbell's new book might be interesting: http://zondervan.com/9780310329053 . "Greek scholar Constantine Campbell carefully examines every occurrence of the phrases ‘in Christ’, ‘with Christ’, ‘through Christ’, ‘into Christ,’ and other related expressions, exegeting each passage in context and taking into account the unique lexical contribution of each Greek preposition. Campbell then builds a holistic portrayal of Paul’s thinking and engages contemporary theological discussions about union with Christ by employing his evidence-based understanding of the theme."