83 EPHESIANS 4,12. A REVISED READING (c) “to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (NAB). The first and the second prepositional phrases should be read together giving the purpose of edwken, and the third is ¶ parallel to the first indicating also a purpose of the main verb 9. (d) “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (NIV). The first expresses purpose, the second depends on the first, and the third depends on the second indicating result 10. The history of the recent debate on Eph 4,12 shows partial agreement among the scholars but reveals clearly the difficulty of finding an exeget- ically suitable approach to the text. For instance, the authors propose dif- ferent criteria to arrange the prepositional phrases. Many adopt semantics as the defining criterion, i.e. they distinguish the nominal contents of the sequence and relate them according to their theological relevance within the letter. Others give excessive importance to traditional interpretation, i.e. they take the phrases as Chrysostom presumably did. However, it is possible that the meaning of the words and the traditional interpretation may not be enough to clarify the sense of the sequence. The following argumentation attempts to understand Eph 4,11-12 from a rhetorical point of view, taking into account the reasoning of the sequence and its literary context, in order to elucidate the meaning and sense of the whole structure. II. The Semantics of prov + katartismon ¥ ¥ The precise meaning of katartismov in Eph 4,12 remains in question ¥ because the word itself covers a wide semantic domain 11. There are at Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (NICNT ; Grand Rapids, MI 1984) 349. T.K. ABBOTT, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles 9 to the Ephesians and to the Colossians (ICC ; Edinburgh 1897) 119; H. SCHLIER, Der Brief an der Epheser: ein Kommentar (Düsseldorf 1957) 198-199 ; H. MERKLEIN, Das kirchliche Amt nach dem Epheserbrief (SANT 33 ; München 1973) 77; BARTH, Ephesians, 489-491; S. ROMANELLO, Lettera agli Efesini: nuova versione, introduzione e commento (Milano 2003) 142- 144 ; TALBERT, Ephesians, 114; P.S. WILLIAMSON, Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI 2009) 114, 117-118. See also NA27 ; NRSV . BEST, On Ephesians, 398-399; J-N. ALETTI, Saint Paul, Epître aux Éphé- 10 siens (Études bibliques. Nouvelle série; Paris 2001) 220; HOEHNER, Ephesians, 549 ; TANTIONO, Speaking the Truth, 147; SELLIN, An Epheser, 342. The word katartismov includes, for example, the following semantic ¥ 11 domains : “to make someone completely adequate or sufficient for something