Editing Epistle to the Ephesians (section)

===Place, date, and purpose of the writing of the letter===
While most English translations indicate that the letter was addressed to "the saints who are in [[Ephesus]]" (1:1), the words "in Ephesus" do not appear in the best and earliest manuscripts of the letter, leading most [[Textual criticism|textual critics]], like [[Bart Ehrman]], to regard the words as an [[Interpolation (manuscripts)|interpolation]].<ref name= "Ehrman 2004 381–384"/> This lack of any internal references to [[Ephesus]] in the early manuscripts may have led [[Marcion]], a second-century [[heresiarch]] [[Development of the New Testament canon#Marcion of Sinope|who created the first New Testament canon]], to believe that the letter was actually addressed to the church at [[Laodicea on the Lycus|Laodicea]]. For details see [[Epistle to the Laodiceans]].<ref name="Bruce142"/>

Furthermore, if Paul is regarded as the author, the impersonal character of the letter, which lacks personal greetings or any indication that the author has personal knowledge of his recipients, is incongruous with the account in Acts of Paul staying more than two years in Ephesus.<ref name="OBrien5">{{cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Peter T. |author-link=Peter O'Brien (theologian) |date=1999 |title=The Letter to the Ephesians |publisher=Eerdmans |place=Grand Rapids, Michigan |series=The Pillar New Testament Commentary |isbn= 978-0-80283736-3 |editor-last=Carson |editor-first=D. A. |editor-link=D. A. Carson |page= 5}}</ref> For these reasons, most regard Ephesians to be a circular letter intended for many churches.<ref name= "HarperCollinsSB"/><ref name= "OBrien5" /><ref>{{cite book |last= Snodgrass |first=Klyne |author-link= Klyne Snodgrass | series = The NIV Application Commentary | title = Ephesians |date= 1996 |publisher= Zondervan |isbn= 978-0-31049340-2 |page= 21}}</ref> The [[Jerusalem Bible]] notes that some critics think the words "who are" would have been followed by a blank to be filled in with the name of "whichever church was being sent the letter".<ref>Jerusalem Bible (1966), Footnote 'a' at Ephesians 1:1</ref>

If Paul was the author of the letter, then it was probably written from Rome during Paul's first imprisonment,<ref>{{Bibleref2-nb|Eph|3:1}}; {{Bibleref2-nb |Eph|4:1}}; {{Bibleref2-nb|Eph.|6:20}}</ref> and probably soon after his arrival there in the year 62, four years after he had parted with the Ephesian elders at Miletus. However, scholars who dispute Paul's authorship date the letter to between 70 and 80 AD.<ref name= "barth" /> In the latter case, the possible location of the authorship could have been within the church of Ephesus itself. [[Ignatius of Antioch]] seemed to be very well versed in the epistle to the Ephesians, and mirrors many of his own thoughts in his own epistle to the Ephesians.<ref name= "barth">[[Markus Barth]], Ephesians: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on Chapters 1–3 (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1974), 50–51</ref>