Until We All Attain the Mature Man
Mapping the Metaphors for Maturity in Ephesians Within Paul's Greco-Roman Context
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3677679 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John K Goodrich (0000-0001-8679-075X, South Florida Bible College & Theological Seminary, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 130 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-24 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel16020130 |
| OpenAlex | W4406806442 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
One of the central metaphorical themes of Ephesians is maturity, expressed most memorably in 4:13. In this verse, the goal of the church is portrayed as the attainment of the "mature man" (εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον), the state of completion to which Christ's corporate body is growing until it reaches "the measure of the stature of the fullness" of its head. Despite the clear origin of Paul's metaphor in the realm of human development, minimal discussion has centered on how Paul's contemporaries employed the phrase "mature man" (τέλειος ἀνήρ) in relation to other developmental milestones along the commonly conceived life course in Greco-Roman antiquity, and what implications this might have for understanding where in the maturation process Paul would have plotted his implied readers. This investigation explores these contextual matters and then uses the results to cast light on related developmental imagery in the surrounding passages of Ephesians, including not only the human growth terminology in 4:12-16 but also the pedagogical rhetoric in 4:20-21, the allusion to the Roman toga virilis ceremony in 4:22-24, and the military analogy in 6:10-18. Collectively, this metaphorical imagery helps to identify the church's current stature as that befitting of a young man who has recently come of age and located within the liminal phase of early male adulthood. Explicating the fullness of the maturity metaphor in Ephesians helps to illuminate the thematic coherency of the letter as well as how Paul sought to make his realized eschatology intelligible to his ancient readers
Archaeology · Developmental psychology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Psychology
| Highly cited | No |
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