I remember the smirkish grin on the face of my Beginning Hebrew teacher and the joy he seemed to derive from asking the question “Who is he?” which was always accompanied by the surprisingly unorthodox answer “He is she.” This self-bantering question and answer sequence was his teaching method for teaching his students the Hebrew 3rd person singular masculine and feminine pronouns “he” and “she.”
In Biblical Hebrew, “hu” is the 3rd person singular masculine pronoun form of the English pronoun “he”. And “hi” pronounced “hee,” is the 3rd person singular feminine pronoun form for the English pronoun “she”. So, in reality “Who is he” is not a question; it is an elusive statement. What originally was thought to be a question and a statement, elusively turns out to be two statements. “hu” is “he” and “hi” is “she.”
Identifying 1st person pronouns in the biblical text can be somewhat as elusive to interpret as the Hebrew teaching lesson of the 3rd person pronouns, unless you speak exclusively in a clusivity language. Interpreting scripture in a clusivity challenged language such as Hebrew, Greek, or English is a challenge in itself.
Clusivity, as we noticed in my last blog, is a term describing the grammatical feature of the use of 1st person plural pronouns (“we/us/our,”) using verbal morphology (markers) identifying the inclusion or exclusion of participants to whom the speaker addresses in a specific dialog. In the use of “we/us/our,” the inclusive use specifically includes the audience along with the speaker, while the exclusive use specifically excludes the audience.
Unless there is a clusivity marker in a specific language, it is a matter for the interpreter to determine who the speaker is including in the dialog. Context becomes imperative in determining who is included and who is excluded in 1st person plural pronouns.
For instance, in Ephesians 1:1, we read that Paul’s letter is addressed to “the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.” Because we know that Paul has already identified his readers and considers them as “saints” and “full of faith”, we can safely assume that he includes those readers in his use of the 1st person plural possessive pronoun, “our” in his benediction to them in the following verse(1:2).
”Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The conclusion we can draw from this inclusion of Paul’s readers in the use of his 1st person pronoun "our" is that God is the readers' heavenly Father as He is the heavenly Father of Paul and whoever else Paul may be including in the pronoun use of “our”. We may also conclude that Jesus Christ is the Lord of Paul’s readers as he is the Lord of Paul and whoever else Paul may be including in that pronoun use. Context is imperative to interpretation.
The difficulty of interpretation becomes quite apparent as we move through the next few lines of the text. In 1:3-11 we see Paul use the 1st person plural pronoun 9 more times which means there are 9 interpretive occasions for which the references of the 1st person plural pronoun must to be determined in that section. Does Paul include his readers in all those references?
The text below shows the interpretive occasions of the 1st person plural pronoun as underlined text.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known[c] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Since we have already assumed that Paul includes his readers in 1:1 in his reference to “our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” it is safe to assume here also that Paul includes them again in verse 3a, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What is not so clear is who Paul includes in his use of the 1st person pronoun in 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, and 9a.
The question I pose with a smirkish grin on my face is “Who is us?” and “Who is we?” It does make sense that because Paul includes his readers in the use of the first two previous 1st person plural pronouns that he also includes them in the following verses. Having said that though, it does not necessarily follow that just because Paul includes his readers in the first two previous 1st person plural pronouns that he also includes them in the following verses.
Context is everything! So from what we know to whom Paul is writing and who he is including in the first two occurrences of the 1st person pronouns in his Ephesian letter, one would expect that Paul continues to include them in the following paragraphs.
In the Ephesian letter, we know that Paul addresses two specific groups of people. In 2:14-17 he says,
“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross.”
Paul feels the need to clarify who the “us” is by using the inclusive marker ”both.” He wants to make sure that his readers are included with him and whoever else Paul may be including in that pronoun use. But who are the participants? In order to answer this question we must rely on the context of the letter.
Context is everything; so from 2:11, we know at least here Paul is talking to Gentile Christians.
“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision…”
The Gentile Christians are those called the “uncircumcised” here.
We also know from that same verse, it is those of the “circumcision” (a Jewish reference to Jewish people and the practice of circumcision) that are making the distinction of the “uncircumcised.” So Paul distinguishes tow groups; Jewish and Gentile.
Also, from earlier in 1:12, the context indicates that Paul is referring to Jewish Christians when he refers to himself and whoever else he may be including in his pronoun use when he says; “we who were the first to hope in Christ.” Since the phenomena of Jewish Christians occurs historically before the phenomena of Gentile Christians, we must assume that Paul is referring to the Jewish Christians in his statement here as the ones who were the first to hope in Christ.
Paul makes a clear distinction between the two groups (clusivity) as he states in the very next sentence by using the 2nd person plural pronoun “you.”
“so that we (Jewish Christians - but not you Gentile Christians) who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you (Gentile Christians) also …” 1:12-13
The “us” vs “you” distinction is an obvious distinction between the two groups and is an obvious way Paul adjusts to make himself clear in a clusivity challenged language.
So, the “us” + "both" construction in 2:14-17 is a clear manifestation of Paul's attempt to reference the two groups; Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians and include the Gentile Christians in the use of the 1st person pronoun. Perhaps it could even be said that the use of "both" makes that lexical form the clusivity marker needed to bring clarity to the readers.
Knowing this then, “Who is us? and “Who is we?” in the earlier portions of Pauls letter to the Ephesians?
Recognizing contextual 1st person plural pronoun (“us/we/our”) references located later in the Ephesian letter helps us answer the question “Who is us? and “Who is we?” references from earlier in his letter. Using contextual clues will help us solve the lack of clusivity marking the Greek and English language in Ephesians and will help us in the interpretation and application of the biblical text to our lives.
We cannot take the time in this blog to apply this principle to every occurrence of the 1st person plural pronouns in Ephesians (over 40 occurrences). Suffice it to say, all is not what it appears to be when it comes to answering the question “Who is us?” & “Who is we?” in Ephesians.
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