Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Ephesians 1:15

"For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which [ye show] toward all the saints," — Ephesians 1:15 (ASV)

Paul’s thanksgiving for the spiritual progress of the Ephesian Christians arises out of what he has just written in vv.13–14. News had been brought to him in Rome about the continuing “faith” and “love” displayed by those whom he now addresses (cf. Phm 5). Faith finds its focus in Christ and expresses itself in love to others (Galatians 5:6). We need not assume that the reference in this verse is to their initial experience of Christ and that Paul therefore did not know them personally. On the other hand, if Ephesians is a circular letter, there may well have been some readers who were not actually known to him.