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 to all the saints.

Heard of the faith ... among you ... Beare said this is "fiction, and not specific," and tried to prove it by a distorted quotation, or paraphrase, "The saints who are faithful (Ephesians 1:1) have faith!"[27] His words are cited here not as any worthy testimony whatever against this letter, but as a clear demonstration of the partial, warped, biased and prejudiced exegesis by which some critical scholars seek to maintain their ridiculous theories. What about the words, "AND THE LOVE YE SHOW TO ALL THE SAINTS"? IS that not a specific? Beare ignored this, but in doing so he discredited his exegesis.

Another critical blow aimed at this verse is this: Almost the exact parallel of this verse is in Colossians 1:4, addressed to a church Paul has never seen. The same words here addressed to the recipients of this letter must therefore mean that Paul had never seen them! Which means, of course, that it is not Paul's letter to the Ephesians, where he had spent three whole years! Such a deduction, however, cannot be intelligently supported, because Paul used almost exactly these same words, and certainly the full thought of them, in Philemon 1:1:5, to one of his own converts.

Thus, it is clear enough that Paul did not mean in this verse that he had heard "for the first time" of the faith and love of the Ephesians, but that he had heard such things of their members following the time when he had worked among them.

This verse is the beginning of a prayer Paul penned on behalf of his addressees, running through Ephesians 1:22.