For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,
Parallel Translations
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For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,
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For this cause I Paul a in the bodes of Iesus christ for youre sakes which are hethen:
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For this cause, I Paul am the prisoner of Iesus Christ for you Gentiles,
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Ephesians 3:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the assembly,
- Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
- Ephesians 6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
- 2 Timothy 1:8 Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God,
- Philippians 1:13-16 so that it became evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my bonds are in Christ, and that most of the brothers in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will. The former insincerely preach Christ from selfish ambition, thinking that they add affliction to my chains;
- Luke 21:12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake.
- Philippians 1:7 It is even right for me to think this way on behalf of all of you, because I have you in my heart, because both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Good News, you all are partakers with me of grace.
- Philemon 1:9 yet for love’s sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
- Acts 23:18 So he took him, and brought him to the commanding officer, and said, “Paul, the prisoner, summoned me and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.”
- Philemon 1:1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker,
- Acts 21:33 Then the commanding officer came near, arrested him, commanded him to be bound with two chains, and inquired who he was and what he had done.
- Acts 26:29 Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.”
- Acts 28:17-20 After three days Paul called together those who were the leaders of the Jews. When they had come together, he said to them, “I, brothers, though I had done nothing against the people or the customs of our fathers, still was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, who, when they had examined me, desired to set me free, because there was no cause of death in me. But when the Jews spoke against it, I was constrained to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything about which to accuse my nation. For this cause therefore I asked to see you and to speak with you. For because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”
- Philemon 1:23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,
- 2 Corinthians 10:1 Now I Paul, myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of Christ, I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.
- 2 Corinthians 11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, and in deaths often.
- Colossians 4:3 praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds,
- Colossians 4:18 The salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand: remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
- 2 Timothy 1:16 May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain,
- 2 Timothy 2:9-10 in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained. Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones’ sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
- Galatians 5:11 But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been removed.
- Revelation 2:10 Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (28 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. For this cause. Paul’s imprisonment, which ought to…
1. For this cause. Paul’s imprisonment, which ought to have been held as a confirmation of his apostleship, was undoubtedly presented by his adversaries in an opposite light. He therefore points out to the Ephesians that his chains served to prove and to declare his calling; and that the only reason why he had been imprisoned was, that he had preached the gospel to the Gentiles. His unshaken firmness was no small additional proof that he had discharged his office in a proper manner.
The prisoner of Jesus Christ. To strengthen his authority still more, he speaks in lofty terms of his prison. In the presence of the world and of wicked men, this might have appeared to be foolish boasting; but, in addressing godly persons, it was a dignified and faithful manner. The glory of Christ not only overcomes the ignominy of the chains, but converts what was in itself a reproach into the highest honor. If he had merely said, “I am a prisoner,” this would not have conveyed the idea of his being an ambassador. Imprisonment alone has no claim to this honor, being usually the mark of wickedness and crime. But the crowns and sceptres of kings, to say nothing of the imposing splendor of an ambassador, are less honorable than the chains of a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Men might think otherwise, but it is our duty to judge of the reasons. So highly ought the name of Christ to be revered by us, that what men consider to be the greatest reproach, ought to be viewed by us as the greatest honour.
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For you Gentiles. Another circumstance greatly fitted to interest the Ephesians was, that the persecutions of Paul were endured for the Gentiles, — that his troubles and dangers were on their account.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain These words, The prisoner of Jesus Christ, are taken…
These words, The prisoner of Jesus Christ, are taken passively, that is to say I Paul am cast into prison for maintaining the glory of Christ.
He maintaineth his Apostleship against the offense of the cross, whereon also he taketh an argument to confirm himself, affirming that he was not only appointed an Apostle by the mercy of God, but was also particularly appointed to the Gentiles, to call them on every side to salvation: because God had so determined it from the beginning, although he deferred a great while the manifestation of that his counsel.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of…
1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
Ver. 1. For this cause] To wit, that you may be a habitation of God, through the Spirit.
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I Paul, the prisoner] I hold not St Paul so happy for his rapture into Paradise (saith Chrysostom upon this text) as for his imprisonment for Christ.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain For this cause; i.e. that ye may be further…
For this cause; i.e. that ye may be further confirmed in the faith of Christ, and more and more built up in him as an habitation of God, Eph 2:22.
The prisoner of Jesus Christ; for Christ’s sake, for asserting his cause and honour: see 2Ti 1:8; Phm 1:1,9.
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For you Gentiles; for your cause and salvation; having preached and declared the grace of God to be free, and to belong to you Gentiles as well as to the Jews, (the middle wall of partition being taken away), and so equalled you with them. There is no small difference among expositors about the connection of these words: the fairest and easiest seems to be, either:
1. That the substantive verb am be here supplied, and the word read, I Paul am
the prisoner of Jesus Christ; q.d. I have for some time been and still am the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Or:
2. That this verse be joined to the Eph 3:14, (all the rest, Eph 3:2-13, being included in a parenthesis), where he begins with the same words as here; and so we may read it thus, Eph 3:1;
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner, & c.; and then, Eph 3:14, I say: For this cause I bow my knees, &c., viz. praying that ye may be strengthened with might hy his Spirit, &c.; i.e. that they might be more and more built up on Christ, on whom they were founded, and had begun to be built.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain For this cause, that is, for preaching the gospel…
For this cause, that is, for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles in general; and in particular, for asserting, that the privileges of justification and salvation by Christ belonged equally to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, though they were not circumcised; for this cause I was persecuted and imprisoned by the Jews.
Where observe, The apostle styles himself Christ’s prisoner; I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. He was at once Christ’s prisoner, the Jews’ prisoner, the Romans’ prisoner, the Gentiles’ prisoner; Christ’s prisoner, as suffering for his gospel; the Jews’ prisoner, as suffering by their accusation; the Romans’ prisoner, as suffering by their sentence; the Gentiles prisoner, as suffering for his labours in order to their salvation.
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Lord! what a title of honour is here put upon the apostle! I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. His imprisonment for Christ was verily a greater honour, and matter of higher glorying, than his rapture into the third heavens.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here we have the account which Paul gives the…
Here we have the account which Paul gives the Ephesians concerning himself, as he was appointed by God the apostle of the Gentiles.
I. We may observe that he acquaints them with the tribulations and sufferings which he endured in the discharge of that office, Eph 3:1. The first clause refers to the preceding chapter, and may be understood either of these two ways: - 1. "For this cause, - for having preached the doctrine contained in the foregoing chapter, and for asserting that the great privileges of the gospel belong not only to the Jews, but to believing Gentiles also, though they are not circumcised, - for this I am now a prisoner, but a prisoner of Jesus Christ, as I suffer in his cause and for his sake, and continue his faithful servant and the object of his special protection and care, while I am thus suffering for him." Observe, Christ's servants, if they come to be prisoners, are his prisoners; and he despises not his prisoners. He thinks never the worse of them for the bad character which the world gives them or the evil treatment that they met with in it. Paul adhered to Christ, and Christ owned him, when he was in prison. - For you, Gentiles; the Jews persecuted and imprisoned him because he was the apostle of the Gentiles, and preached the gospel to them. We may learn hence that the faithful ministers of Christ are to dispense his sacred truths, however disagreeable they may be to some, and whatever they themselves may suffer for doing so. Or, 2. The words may be thus understood: - "For this cause, - since you are no more strangers and foreigners (as Eph 2:19), but are united to Christ, and admitted into communion with his church, - I Paul, who am the prisoner of Jesus Christ, pray that you may be enabled to act as becomes persons thus favoured by God, and made partakers of such privileges." To this purport you find him expressing himself in Eph 3:14, where, after the digression contained in the several verses intervening, he proceeds with what he began in the first verse. Observe, Those who have received grace and signal favours from God stand in need of prayer, that they may improve and advance, and continue to act as becomes them. And, seeing Paul while he was a prisoner employed himself in such prayers to God in behalf of the Ephesians, we should learn that no particular sufferings of our own should make us so solicitous about ourselves as to neglect the cases of others in our supplications and addresses to God. He speaks again of his sufferings: Wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulation for you, which is your glory, Eph 3:13. While he was in prison, he suffered much there; and, though it was upon their account that he suffered, yet he would not have them discouraged nor dismayed at this, seeing God had done such great things for them by his ministry. What a tender concern was here for these Ephesians! The apostle seems to have been more solicitous lest they should be discouraged and faint upon his tribulations than about what he himself endured; and, to prevent this, he tells them that his sufferings were their glory, and would be so far from being a real discouragement, if they duly considered the matter, that they ministered cause to them for glorying and for rejoicing, as this discovered the great esteem and regard which God bore to them, in that he not only sent his apostles to preach the gospel to them, but even to suffer for them, and to confirm the truths they delivered by the persecutions they underwent. Observe, Not only the faithful ministers of Christ themselves, but their people too, have some special cause for joy and glorying, when they suffer for the sake of dispensing the gospel.
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II. The apostle informs them of God's appointing him to the office, and eminently fitting and qualifying him for it, by a special revelation that he made unto him. 1. God appointed him to the office: If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward, Eph 3:2. They could not have heard of this, and therefore he does not design to speak doubtfully of this matter. Eige is sometimes an affirmative particle, and we may read it, Since you have heard, etc. He styles the gospel the grace of God here (as in other places) because it is the gift of divine grace to sinful men; and all the gracious overtures that it makes, and the joyful tidings that it contains, proceed from the rich grace of God; and it is also the great instrument in the hands of the Spirit by which God works grace in the souls of men. He speaks of the dispensation of this grace given to him; he means as he was authorized and commissioned by God to dispense the doctrine of the gospel, which commission and authority were given to him chiefly for he service of the Gentiles: to you-ward. And again, speaking of the gospel, he says, Whereof I was made a minister, etc., Eph 3:7. Here he again asserts his authority. He was MADE a minister - he did not make himself such; he took not to himself that honour - and he was made such according to the gift of the grace of God unto him. God supplied and furnished him for his work; and in the performance of it suitably assisted him with all needful gifts and graces, both ordinary and extraordinary, and that by the effectual working of his power, in himself more especially, and also in great numbers of those to whom he preached, by which means his labours among them were successful. Observe, What God calls men to he fits them for, and does it with an almighty power. An effectual working of divine power attends the gifts of divine grace. 2. As God appointed him to the office, so he eminently qualified him for it, by a special revelation that he made unto him. He makes mention both of the mystery that was revealed and of the revelation of it. (1.) The mystery revealed is that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ, by the gospel (Eph 3:6); that is, that they should be joint-heirs with the believing Jews of the heavenly inheritance; and that they should be members of the same mystical body, be received into the church of Christ, and be interested in the gospel-promises, as well as the Jews, and particularly in that great promise of the Spirit. And this in Christ, being united to Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and amen; and by the gospel, that is, in the times of the gospel, as some understand it; or, by the gospel preached to them, which is the great instrument and means by which God works faith in Christ, as others. This was the great truth revealed to the apostles, namely, that God would call the Gentiles to salvation by faith in Christ, and that without the works of the law. (2.) Of the revelation of this truth he speaks, Eph 3:3-5. Here we may observe that the coalition of Jews and Gentiles in the gospel church was a mystery, a great mystery, what was designed in the counsel of God before all worlds, but what could not be fully understood for many ages, till the accomplishment expounded the prophecies of it. It is called a mystery because the several circumstances and peculiarities of it (such as the time and manner and means by which it should be effected) were concealed and kept secret in God's own breast, till be an immediate revelation he made them known to his servant. See Act 26:16-18. And it is called the mystery of Christ because it was revealed by him (Gal 1:12), and because it relates so very much to him. Of this the apostle has given some hints afore, or a little before; that is, in the preceding chapters. Whereby, when you read; or, as those words may be read, unto which attending (and it is not enough for us barely to read the scriptures, unless we attend to them, and seriously consider and lay to heart what we read), you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ; so as to perceive how God had fitted and qualified him to be an apostle to the Gentiles, which might be to them an evident token of his divine authority. This mystery, he says, in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (Eph 3:5); that is, "It was not so fully and clearly discovered in the ages before Christ as it is now revealed unto the prophets of this age, the prophets of the New Testament, who are immediately inspired and taught by the Spirit." Let us observe, that the conversion of the Gentile world to the faith of Christ was an adorable mystery, and we ought to bless God for it. Who would have imagined that those who had been so long in the dark, and at so great a distance, would be enlightened with the marvellous light, and be made nigh? Let us learn hence not to despair of the worst, of the worst of persons, and the worst of nations. Nothing is too hard for divine grace to do: none so unworthy but God may please to confer great grace upon them. And how much are we ourselves interested in this affair; not only as we live in a time in which the mystery is revealed, but particularly as we are a part of the nations which in times past were foreigners and strangers, and lived in gross idolatry; but are now enlightened with the everlasting gospel, and partake of its promises!
III. The apostle informs them how he was employed in this office, and that with respect to the Gentiles, and to all men.
1. With respect to the Gentiles, he preached to them the unsearchable riches of Christ, Eph 3:8. Observe, in this verse, how humbly he speaks of himself, and how highly he speaks of Jesus Christ. (1.) How humbly he speaks of himself: I am less than the least of all saints. St. Paul, who was the chief of the apostles, calls himself less than the least of all saints: he means on account of his having been formerly a persecutor of the followers of Christ. He was, in his own esteem, as little as could be. What can be less than the least? To speak himself as little as could be, he speaks himself less than could be. Observe, Those whom God advances to honourable employments he humbles and makes low in their own eyes; and, where God gives grace to be humble, there he gives all other grace. You may also observe in what a different manner the apostle speaks of himself and of his office. While he magnifies his office, he debases himself. Observe, A faithful minister of Christ may be very humble, and think very meanly of himself, even when he thinks and speaks very highly and honourably of his sacred function. (2.) How highly he speaks of Jesus Christ: The unsearchable riches of Christ. There is a mighty treasury of mercy, grace, and love, laid up in Christ Jesus, and that both for Jews and Gentiles. Or, the riches of the gospel are here spoken of as the riches of Christ: the riches which Christ purchased for, and bestows upon, all believers. And they are unsearchable riches, which we cannot find the bottom of, which human sagacity could never have discovered, and men could no otherwise attain to the knowledge of them but by revelation. Now it was the apostle's business and employment to preach these unsearchable riches of Christ among the Gentiles: and it was a favour he greatly valued, and looked upon it as an unspeakable honour to him: "Unto me is this grace given; this special favour God has granted to such an unworthy creature as I am." And it is an unspeakable favour to the Gentile world that to them the unsearchable riches of Christ are preached. Though many remain poor, and are not enriched with these riches, yet it is a favour to have them preached among us, to have an offer of them made to us; and, if we are not enriched with them, it is our own fault.
2. With respect to all men, Eph 3:9. His business and employment were to make all men see (to publish and make known to the whole world) what is the fellowship of the mystery (that the Gentiles who have hitherto been strangers to the church, shall be admitted into communion with it) which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God (kept secret in his purpose), who created all things by Jesus Christ: as Joh 1:3, All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made; and therefore no wonder that he saves the Gentiles as well as the Jews; for he is the common Creator of them both: and we may conclude that he is able to perform the work of their redemption, seeing he was able to accomplish the great work of creation. It is true that both the first creation, when God made all things out of nothing, and the new creation, whereby sinners are made new creatures by converting grace, are of God by Jesus Christ. The apostle adds, To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known, by the church, the manifold wisdom of God, Eph 3:10. This was one things, among others, which God had in his eye in revealing this mystery, that the good angels, who have a pre-eminence in governing the kingdoms and principalities of the world, and who are endued with great power to execute the will of God on this earth (though their ordinary residence is in heaven) may be informed, from what passes in the church and is done in and by it, of the manifold wisdom of God; that is, of the great variety with which God wisely dispenses things, or of his wisdom manifested in the many ways and methods he takes in ordering his church in the several ages of it, and especially in receiving the Gentiles into it. The holy angels, who look into the mystery of our redemption by Christ, could not but take notice of this branch of that mystery, that among the Gentiles is preached the unsearchable riches of Christ. And this is according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, Eph 3:11. Some translate the words kata prothesin tōn aiōnōn thus According to the fore-disposing of the ages which he made, etc. So Dr. Whitby, etc. "In the first of the ages," says this author, "his wisdom seeing fit to give the promise of a Saviour to a fallen Adam: in the second age to typify and represent him to the Jews in sacred persons, rites, and sacrifices: and in the age of the Messiah, or the last age, to reveal him to the Jews, and preach him to the Gentiles." Others understand it, according to our translation, of the eternal purpose which God purposed to execute in and through Jesus Christ, the whole of what he has done in the great affair of man's redemption being in pursuance of his eternal decree about that matter. The apostle, having mentioned our Lord Jesus Christ, subjoins concerning him, In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him (Eph 3:12); that is, "By (or through) whom we have liberty to open our minds freely to God, as to a Father, and a well-grounded persuasion of audience and of acceptance with him; and this by means of the faith we have in him, as our great Mediator and Advocate." We may come with humble boldness to hear from God, knowing that the terror of the curse is done away; and we may expect to hear from him good words and comfortable. We may have access with confidence to speak to God, knowing that we have such a Mediator between God and us, and such an Advocate with the Father.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus…
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ,.... Not actively, whom Christ had apprehended by his grace, and made a prisoner of hope; but passively, who was made a prisoner for Christ, on account of preaching Christ, and his Gospel: he was not a prisoner for any capital crime, as theft, murder, &c. and therefore be was not ashamed of his bonds, but rather glories in them; and a prison has often been the portion of the best of men in this world: from hence we learn, that this epistle was written when the apostle was a prisoner at Rome; and the consideration of this his condition serves much to confirm the truths he had before delivered, seeing they were such as he could, and did suffer for; and which must engage the attention of the Ephesians to them, and especially since his sufferings were on their account:
for you Gentiles: because he preached the Gospel to the Gentiles, which the Jews forbid, that they might not be saved; and because he taught them, that circumcision and the rest of the ceremonies of the law were not binding upon them; which gave great offence to the Jews, who were the means of bringing of him into these circumstances, and particularly the Asiatic Jews, the Jews of Ephesus; who having seen and heard him there, knew him again when in the temple at Jerusalem, and raised a mob upon him, having bore a grudge against him for his ministry at Ephesus, by which means he became a prisoner; so that he might truly say, he was a prisoner for the sake of them; see Act 21:27. One of Stevens's copies adds, "am an ambassador", as in Eph 6:20 and another of them, "glory", or "rejoice"; see Phi 2:16.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain For this cause - That ye may be so…
For this cause - That ye may be so "built together," I am a prisoner for you gentiles - For your advantage, and for asserting your right to these blessings. This it was which so enraged the Jews against him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Paul, a prisoner for the testimony of Jesus, declares…
CHAPTER III.
Paul, a prisoner for the testimony of Jesus, declares his
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knowledge of what had been a mystery from all ages, that the
Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body with the
Jews, 1-6.
Which doctrine he was made a minister, that he might declare the
unsearchable riches of Christ, and make known to principalities
and powers this eternal purpose of God, 7-12.
He desires them not to be discouraged on account of his
tribulations, 13.
His prayer that they might be filled with all the fulness of
God, 14-19.
His doxology, 20, 21.
NOTES ON CHAP. III.
Verse 1. For this cause] Because he maintained that the Gentiles were admitted to all the privileges of the Jews, and all the blessings of the new covenant, without being obliged to submit to circumcision, the Jews persecuted him, and caused him to be imprisoned, first at Caesarea, where he was obliged to appeal to the Roman emperor, in consequence of which he was sent prisoner to Rome. See Ac 21:21-28, c.
The prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles] For preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, and showing that they were not bound by the law of Moses, and yet were called to be fellow citizens with the saints for this very cause the Jews persecuted him unto bonds, and conspired his death.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Eph 3:1-7. For this cause — That you may…
Eph 3:1-7. For this cause — That you may be so built up together, and made the temple of God, and his habitation through the Spirit; I bow my knees, &c., see Eph 3:14, with which the words are evidently closely connected, (as they are also with the close of the preceding chapters) the subsequent paragraph to the end of Eph 3:13 manifestly coming in by way of parenthesis. I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles — For your advantage, for asserting your right to these blessings. This it was which so much enraged the Jews against him. If ye have heard — Or, seeing ye have heard, as ειγε ηκουσατε may be properly rendered; and being so rendered will be very applicable to the Ephesians, who, no doubt, were well acquainted with Paul’s apostolical commission. Here, by way of digression, the apostle sets forth the nature and dignity of his apostolical office toward the Gentiles, as in Rom 11:13. Of the dispensation of the grace of God — For the meaning of the word οικονομια, here rendered dispensation, see note on Eph 1:10. It here means the authority and commission given him to declare the doctrine of the grace of God to the Gentiles, as displayed in the gospel; which is given me to you- ward — Which office is committed to me chiefly with relation to you Gentiles, to be employed for your edification; how that by revelation, see (Act 26:16-17,) and not by the instrumentality of any human testimony; he made known to me the mystery — Which had so long been concealed, namely, that salvation by Christ alone was free for both the Jews and Gentiles; as I wrote afore — Namely, chap. Eph 1:9-10; in few words — The very words of which passage he here repeats. The apostle does not appear to mean that he had written of the mystery in a few words, for the greatest part of the preceding chapters is taken up in explaining that mystery; but his meaning seems to be, that he had written before in a few words concerning the discovery of the mystery to him by revelation. The mystery which in other ages was not made known — So clearly and fully; unto the sons of men — No, not to the Jews themselves; (see on Mat 13:17;) as it is now revealed — In consequence of the death and resurrection of Christ; unto his holy apostles and prophets — Namely, of the New Testament: see on 1Co 12:28. That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs — With the believing Jews, (Gal 3:29,) and Christ himself, (Rom 8:17,) of the heavenly inheritance; and of the same body — Under Christ the head, or incorporated in the true church; and partakers of his promise — Of pardon, adoption, the renewing of the Holy Ghost and eternal life; in Christ — Purchased by him, and enjoyed by virtue of your union with him; in the gospel — Preached to you. Whereof I was made a minister — When first called by Christ himself appearing to me for that purpose; according to the gift of the grace of God — To which office he raised me, not through any worthiness of mine, but of his free grace; given unto me — In a most extraordinary and remarkable manner; by the effectual working of his power — Which conquered my prejudices, enlightened my understanding, changed my heart, and prepared and qualified me for that high and holy office, averse as I once was to all the purposes of it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For this cause - On account of preaching this…
For this cause - On account of preaching this doctrine; that is, the doctrine that the gospel was to be proclaimed to the Gentiles.
I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ - A prisoner in the service of the Lord Jesus; or made a prisoner in his cause. Not a prisoner for crime or debt, or as a captive in war, but a captive in the service of the Redeemer. This proves that at the time of writing this, Paul was in bonds, and there can he no question that he was in Rome. This would be more correctly rendered, “For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner,” etc. So Tyndale renders it, “For this cause I, Paul, the servant of Jesus, am in bonds.” So also Locke, Rosenmuller, Doddridge, Whitby, Koppe, and others understand it. By this construction the abruptness now manifest in our common version is avoided.
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For you Gentiles - Made a prisoner at Rome on your behalf, because I maintained that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles; see Act 22:21-23. He was taken first to Cesarea, and then to Rome. The cause of his imprisonment and of all his difficulties was, that he maintained that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles; that when the Jews rejected it God rejected them; and that he was specially called to carry the message of salvation to the pagan world.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner, &c. The…
For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner, &c. The sense seems to be, I, Paul, am a prisoner; otherwise the sense will be suspended, and interrupted by a long parenthesis till the 14th verse, where it is again repeated, "for this cause I bow my knees." (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain Ephesians Chapter 3
Ephesians Chapter 3
The whole of chapter 3 is a parenthesis unfolding the mystery; and presenting at the same time, in the prayer that concludes it, the second character of God set before us at the beginning of the epistle, namely, that of Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and this is the way in which it is here introduced. Chapter 1 gives the counsels of God as they are in themselves, adding His raising Christ and setting Him above all on high at the end. Chapter 2, His work in quickening others with Him and forming the whole assembly of those who are risen in Christ, taken by grace from among Jews and Gentiles; these are God’s thoughts and work. Chapter 3 is Paul’s administration of it; it speaks especially of the bringing in of the Gentiles on the same footing as the Jews. This was the entirely new part of the ways of God.
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Paul was a prisoner for having preached the gospel to the Gentiles-a circumstance that brought out his particular ministry very clearly. Thus ministry in the main is presented as in Col 1:1-29. Only in the latter epistle the whole subject is treated more briefly, and the essential principle and character of the mystery according to its place in the counsels of God is less explained, is viewed only on a special side of it, suited to the purpose of the epistle, that is, Christ and the Gentiles. Here the apostle assures us that he had received it by a special revelation, as he had already taught them in words which, though few, were suited to give a clear understanding of his knowledge of the mystery of Christ-a mystery never made known in the past ages, but now revealed by the Spirit to the apostles and prophets. Here it will be observed that the prophets are most evidently those of the New Testament, since the communications made to them are put in contrast with the degree of light granted in the previous ages. Now the mystery had been hidden in all former times; and in fact it needed so to be; for to have put the Gentiles on the same footing as the Jews would have been to demolish Judaism, such as God had Himself established it. In it He had carefully raised a middle wall of partition. The duty of the Jew was to respect this separation; he sinned, if he did not strictly observe it. The mystery set it aside. The Old Testament prophets, and Moses himself, had indeed shewn that the Gentiles should one day rejoice with the people: but the people remained a separate people. That they should be co-heirs, and of the same body, all distinction being lost, had indeed been entirely hid in God (part of His eternal purpose before the world was), but formed no part of the history of the world, nor of the ways of God respecting it, nor of the revealed promises of God.
It is a marvellous purpose of God which, uniting redeemed ones to Christ in heaven as a body to its head, gave them a place in heaven. For, although we are journeying on the earth, and although we are the habitation of God by the Spirit on the earth, yet in the mind of God our place is in heaven.
In the age to come the Gentiles will be blessed; but Israel will be a special and separate people.
In the assembly all earthly distinction is lost; we are all one in Christ, as risen with Him.
He made known to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, which gave them a portion in the counsels of God in grace. He enlightened all with regard, not precisely, to the mystery, but to the administration [14] of the mystery; that is to say, not only the counsel of God, but the accomplishment in time of that counsel by bringing the assembly together under Christ its head. He who had created all things, as the sphere of the development of His glory, had kept this secret in His own possession, in order that the administration of the mystery, now revealed by the establishment of the assembly on earth, should be in its time the means of making known to the most exalted of created beings the manifold and various wisdom of God. They had seen creation arise and expand before their eyes; they had seen the government of God, His providence, His judgment; His intervention in lovingkindness on the earth in Christ. Here was a kind of wisdom altogether new; a thing outside the world, hitherto shut up in the mind of God, hid in Himself so that there was no promise or prophecy of it, but the special object of His eternal purpose; connected in a peculiar way with the One who is the centre and the fulness of the mystery of godliness; which had its own place in union with Him; which, although it was manifested on earth and set with Christ at the head of creation, formed properly no part of it. It was a new part of it. It was a new creation, a distinct manifestation of the wisdom of God; a part of His thoughts which until then had been reserved in the secret of His counsels; the actual administration of which, on the earth in time by the apostle’s work, made known the wisdom of God according to His settled purpose, according to His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus. “In whom,” the apostle adds, “we draw nigh with all boldness by faith in him”: and it is according to this relationship that we do so.
Therefore these Gentile believers were not to be discouraged on account of the imprisonment of him who had proclaimed to them this mystery; for it was the proof and the fruit of the glorious position which God had granted them, and of which the Jews were jealous.
This revelation of the ways of God does not, as the first chapter, present Christ to us as man raised up by God from the dead, in order that we should be raised up also to have part with Him, and that the administration of the counsels of God should thus be accomplished. It presents Him as the centre of all the ways of God, the Son of the Father, the Heir of all things as the Creator Son, and the centre of the counsels of God. It is to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that the apostle now addresses himself; as in chapter 1 it was to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every family (not “the whole family”) ranges itself under this name of Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Under the name of Jehovah there were only the Jews. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth,” had Jehovah said to the Jews in Amos, “therefore will I punish you for your iniquities”; but under the name of Father of Jesus Christ all families-the assembly, angels, Jews, Gentiles, all-range themselves. All the ways of God in that which He had arranged for His glory were co-ordained under this name, and were in relation with it; and that which the apostle asked for the saints to whom he addressed himself was, that they should be enabled to apprehend the whole import of those counsels, and the love of Christ which formed the assured centre for their hearts.
For this purpose he desires that they should be strengthened with all might by the Spirit of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Christ, who is the centre of all these things in the counsels of God the Father, should dwell also in their hearts, and thus be the intelligent centre of affection to all their knowledge-a centre which found no circle to limit the view that lost itself in infinitude which God alone filled-length, breadth, height, depth.[15] But this centre gave them at the same time a sure place, a support immovable and well known, in a love which was as infinite as the unknown extent of the glory of God in its display around Himself. “That Christ,” says the apostle, “may dwell in your hearts.” Thus He, who fills all things with His glory, fills the heart Himself, with a love more powerful than all the glory of which He is the centre. He is to us the strength which enables us in peace and love to contemplate all that He has done, the wisdom of His ways, and the universal glory of which He is the centre.
I repeat it-He who fills all things fills above all our hearts. God strengthens us according to the riches of that glory which He displays before our wondering eyes as rightly belonging to Christ. He does it, in that Christ dwells in us, with tenderest affection, and He is the strength of our heart. It is as rooted and grounded in love; and thus embracing as the first circle of our affections and thoughts, those who are so to Christ-all the saints the objects of His love: it is as being filled with Him, and ourselves as the centre of all His affections, and thinking His thoughts, that we throw ourselves into the whole extent of God’s glory; for it is the glory of Him whom we love. And what is its limit? It has none; it is the fulness of God. We find it in this revelation of Himself. In Christ He reveals Himself in all His glory. He is God over all things, blessed for ever.
But dwelling in love we dwell in God and God in us: and that in connection with the display of His glory, as He develops it in all that He has formed around Himself, to exhibit Himself in it, in order that Christ, and Christ in the assembly, His body, should be the centre of it, and the whole the manifestation of Himself in His entire glory. We are filled unto all the fulness of God; and it is in the assembly that He dwells for this purpose. He works in us by His Spirit with this object. Therefore Paul’s desire and prayer is that glory may be unto God in the assembly throughout all ages by Jesus Christ: Amen. And note, it is here realisation of what is spoken of that is desired. It is not, as chapter 1, objective, that they may know what is certainly true, but that it may be true for them, they being strengthened with might by His Spirit. It is very beautiful to see how, after launching us into the infinitude of God’s glory, he brings us back to a known centre in Christ-to know the love of Christ, but not to narrow us. It is more properly divine, though familiar to us, than theglory. It passes knowledge.
Observe too here, that the apostle does not now ask that God should act by a power, as it is often expressed, which works for us, but by a power that works in us.[16] He is able to do above all that we can ask or think according to His power that works in us. What a portion for us! What a place is this which is given us in Christ! But he returns thus to the thesis proposed at the end of chapter 2, God dwelling in the assembly by the Spirit, and Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, united in one. He desires that the Ephesian Christians (and all of us) should walk worthy of this vocation. Their vocation was to be one, the body of Christ; but this body in fact manifested on earth in its true unity by the presence of the Holy Ghost. We have seen (chap. 1) the Christian brought into the presence of God Himself; but the fact that these Christians formed the body of Christ, and that they were the dwelling-place of God here below, the house of God on the earth-in a word, their whole position-is comprised in the expression, “their vocation.” Chapter 1, note, gives the saints before God; the prayer of chapter 3, Christ in them.
Chapter 4. Now the apostle was in prison for the testimony which he had borne to this truth, for having maintained and preached the privileges that God had granted to the Gentiles, and in particular that of forming by faith, together with the believing Jews, one body united to Christ. In his exhortation he makes use of this fact as a touching motive. Now the first thing that he looked for on the part of his beloved children in the faith, as befitting this unity and as a means of maintaining it in practice, was the spirit of humility and meekness, forbearance with one another in love. This is the individual state which he desired to be realised among the Ephesians. It is the true fruit of nearness to God, and of the possession of privileges; if they are enjoyed in His presence.
At the end of chapter 2 the apostle had unfolded the result of the work of Christ in uniting the Jew and the Gentile, in making peace, and in thus forming the dwelling-place of God on the earth; Jew and Gentile having access to God by one Spirit through the mediation of Christ, both being reconciled to God in one body. To have access to God; to be the dwelling-place of God through His presence by the Holy Ghost; to be one body reconciled to God-such is the vocation of Christians. Chapter 3 had developed this in its whole extent. The apostle applies it in chapter 4.
Footnotes for Ephesians Chapter 3
14: This appears to me to be the true word, and not “the fellowship.”
15: Christ is the centre of all the display of divine glory, but He thus dwells in our hearts so as to set them, so to speak, in this centre, and make them look out thence on all the glory displayed. Here we might lose ourselves; but he brings them back to the well-known love of Christ, yet not as anything narrower, for He is God, and it passes knowledge, so that we are filled up to all the fulness of God.
16: This fully distinguishes the prayer of chapter I and this. There the calling and inheritance were in the sure purpose of God, and his prayer is that they may know them, and the power that brought them there. Here it is what is in us, and he prays that it may exist, and that as present power in the church.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain C. The office and service of the church
C. The office and service of the church
Eph_3:1-21
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1. The office in and for this church
(Eph_3:1-13.)
1For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ [Christ Jesus]1 for [in behalf 2of] you Gentiles, If [indeed] ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God 3which is given me to you-ward: How that [That] by revelation he made known unto me the mystery [the mystery was made known2 to me]; ([omit parenthesis] as I wrote [have written] afore in few words; 4Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge [In accordance with which, while reading, ye can perceive my understanding]3 in the mystery of Christ,) [omit) ] 5Which in other ages [generations]4 was not made known unto [to] the sons of men, as it is [has been]5 now revealed unto [to] his holy apostles and prophets by [in] the Spirit; 6That the Gentiles should be [are] fellow heirs, and of the same body [fellow members], and partakers [fellow-partakers] of his [the]6 promise in Christ [Christ Jesus]7 by [through] the gospel: 7Whereof I was made [became]8 a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto [which was given9 to] me by the effectual working [ac cording to the working] of his power. 8Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is [was] this grace given, that I should preach among [to preach to]10 the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9And to make all men see what is the fellowship [dispensation]11 of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world [lit., from the ages] hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ 10[omit by Jesus Christ]:12 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in [the] heavenly places might be [made] known by [through] the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11According to the eternal purpose which he purposed 12[wrought] in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have [our] boldness and [our]13 access with [in] confidence by the faith of [through our faith on]14 him. 13Wherefore I desire that ye faint not [I beseech you not to faint]15 at my tribulations for you, which is [are] your glory.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Connection and Summary. With τούτου χάριν the Apostle refers to what precedes (Eph_2:19-22), not exclusively to Eph_2:22 (Bleek, also Meyer), which is only a conclusion, although a comprehensive one. The reference to Eph_3:11-21 (Stier) is preferable to that of Bleek, yet the first part of that section contains merely an antithesis which has been overcome and is past. Without any fear of a relapse he now looks forward and points to the end and aim.—From the fact that the church, “of the family of God,” is built together in Christ “unto an habitation of God in the Spirit,” there proceeds as a result: the Apostle’s intercession and exhortation (Eph_3:14-19)16 the weight and indispensable consideration of which rest upon the office, not the person, although person and office do and must include each other; if the former rightly regards and administers the latter, the latter makes its importance felt chiefly in its bearer. Hence Eph_3:1-12 treat of the apostolic office as the appointed subject of the intercession and exhortation. Eph_3:1 describes the present efficient bearer of this office in general; Eph_3:2 defines the office as a gift of God’s grace, which according to Eph_3:3-4 has been imparted in a special manner and according to Eph_3:5 now for the first time, having as its task the reception of all nations through the proclamation of the gospel (Eph_3:6). Eph_3:7-8 a mark the service and the unworthiness of its recipient, Eph_3:8 b, 9, the extent of the task allotted to this gift; Eph_3:10 points to the aim; Eph_3:11, back to the beginning and foundation; Eph_3:12, to the carrying out of the task already begun. So Stier in the main.
Eph_3:1. The person holding the office. For this Cause. Τούτου χάριν is an emphatic expression, occurring elsewhere only in Eph_3:14; Tit_1:5. It is stronger than διό, διὰ τοῦτο, introducing something special. [It means for this reason and is aptly rendered in the E. V]—To this strong expression corresponds: I Paul, ἐγὼ ΙΙαῦλος.—The phrase is found also in 2Co_10:1; Gal_5:2; Col_1:23; 1Th_2:18; Phm_1:19 (and Eph_3:9). Similarly ἐγὼ Ἰωάννης, Rev_1:9; Rev_22:8; Rev_21:2 (Rec). He mentions his name, not on account of his person (Eph_3:8), but because of his office and-the importance of what he is doing.
The prisoner of Christ Jesus [ὁδέσμιος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ.]—In Eph_4:1 alone do we find ἐν κυρίῳ, elsewhere always (2Ti_1:8; Phm_1:9) as here, with the genitive. It is undoubtedly the genitive auctoris, causæ.17 Winer, p. 178. So δεσμοὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, “bonds of the gospel” (Phm_1:13) are bonds which belong to the service of the gospel, ὀνειδισμὸν Χριστοῦ (Heb_13:13) is reproach which Christ bore, παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (2Co_1:3). Our phrase is not=for Christ’s sake, propter Christum. A special emphasis rests on the expression. In the Epistle to Philemon written at the same time (Eph_3:1), it even stands in the place where “Apostle” is usually found, and in Eph_3:9 (“as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus”) it is similarly used. Here it is not a predicate, but in apposition to the subject already so emphatically named, not an adjective, but a substantive added for the sake of description. Bengel aptly remarks: legatus, isque vinctus. As if he would say: I Paul, the prisoner, not of the emperor, nor of the soldier, but of Christ Jesus, whose Apostle I am. So, following Rieger, Passavant and Stier. Meyer approaches this view (=δοῦλος Χριστοῦ).
[The phrase is taken as a predicate (εἰμί being supplied) by very many from Chrysostom to Beza, Koppe, Meyer. The Syriac version sustains this view, which simplifies the construction very greatly, but is open to great objection: (1) It makes “for this cause” and “on behalf of you” tautological; (2) disconnects Eph_3:2 ff. from Eph_3:1, since they then do not explain it; (3) the article could only occur in the predicate with special emphasis; this emphasis is unpauline and inconsistent with “if indeed ye have heard” (Alford).—Other verbs are supplied in some codices. Meyer formerly accepted a brachyology: I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, (am a prisoner) for you Gentiles, but gave it up as untenable in his 2d ed. See further below.—R.]
In behalf of you Gentiles, ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν τῶν ἐθνῶν.—This added phrase justifies the above interpretation. Paul is imprisoned for the Gentiles, suffers to their benefit, as is said also in Php_1:7; Php_1:12 ff.; Col_4:3. Although Paul had to suffer on account of his proclamation of the gospel among the Gentiles (Act_21:21; Act_21:28 f.; Act_22:21 ff.), yet ὑπέρ is not=propter (Grotius).18 It refers to ὑμᾶς (Eph_3:2) and is rather ad evangelium gentibus annuntiandum than annuntiatum (Flatt). Bengel: “Pauli studio erga gentes incensi sunt persecutores, ut vincirent illum; et vincula ipsa profuere gentibus, Eph_3:13; 2Ti_2:10,” Here then everything “odious” is to be rejected from the term, differing thus from the expression: “once Gentiles in the flesh” (Eph_2:10). Olshausen is excellent: “He here makes mention of his bonds, in order to bring into stronger prominence the glory just described in contrast with the present condition of the church.” Harless also remarks: “Paul would have the Gentiles led to none other than Him, whose chains he wore, and would thus give a proof of the glory of such fellowship, exalted above suffering and shame.” Stier: “The bonds should especially show that proof of the office which proceeds from internal efficacy; the bonds themselves also preach to the Gentiles, and themselves reveal to the Apostle something new.”
At this point the sentence breaks off, and is resumed again in Eph_3:8, since it is peculiar to the naive style of the Greeks, to place the name in the nominative in a sentence, the end of which is not immediately contemplated, and since ἐμοί (Eph_3:8) is in a strikingly emphatic position, so that it refers back to ἐγώ (Eph_3:1) and thus indicates the resumption of the interrupted construction. So Œcumenius, Grotius.
[Not withstanding Dr. Braune’s preference for this view of the construction, it seems to be untenable. (1) Though examples of such a change of case may be found, Origen affirms that it is a solecism. (2) There is no natural connection of thought afforded by this view, while “for this cause” loses its meaning; the grace was not given for this cause, i.e., because they were built in. (3) Eph_3:8 has another obvious connection, viz., with Eph_3:6-7, so that according to this view “the leading thought of the antapodosis in Eph_3:8 is clumsily forestalled in Eph_3:6-7” (Alford).—R.]
Most however (from Luther to Winer, p. 526 f., Bleek) find in Eph_3:13 a return to the thought of our verse, and in Eph_3:14 a resumption and continuation. [This view is supported, among others by Theodoret, Bengel, Flatt, Lachmann, Rueckert, Harless, De Wette (who however regards the construction as “scarcely Pauline”), Olshausen, Eadie, Hodge, Alford, Ellicott. It is the simplest view, except that of Meyer, and not open to any grave objection. (1) It makes the τούτου χάριν of Eph_3:14 take up the same emphatic phrase from Eph_3:1. (2) It gives to that phrase as well as to the whole chapter an appropriate meaning, while a long digression or parenthetical statement is not unpauline. In view of the truth he has just uttered (Eph_2:19-22), he is about to pray for them, but other thoughts come in. He is a prisoner (ver, 1), that too in behalf of the Gentiles: the thought of his office leads him away (Eph_3:2-12), when at length he comes back to the thought of imprisonment (Eph_3:13) with a request that they would not despond on account of his sufferings—then he resumes (Eph_3:14). The whole seems Pauline, and need occasion no difficulty.—R.]
Baumgarten-Crusius accepts an anacoluthon without any subsequent continuation. Calvin [legatione fungor] and others supply πρεσβεύω (from Eph_6:20); others κεκαύ χημαι (from Php_2:16); while such supplements as postulo, hoc scribo [Camerarius], cognovi mysterium [Jerome], sum captivus adhuc, etc., are quite ancient, and occur in some copies. A prevalent view (from the Syriac to Meyer and Schenkel) accepts εἰμί as the proper supplement; but it can scarcely be asserted, that Paul, τούτου χάριν, just on this account, is the Apostle to the Gentiles, the prisoner of the Lord, and that too κατʼ ἐξοχήν. [See above.]
[Among other untenable views there should be mentioned that of Zanchius, Cramer and Holzhausen, who suppose the resumption to take place in Eph_3:13. Against this may be urged the simple διό, the want of connection thus given to Eph_3:14 with its strong τούτου χάριν, and “the insufficiency of such a secondary sentiment as that in Eph_3:13 to justify the long parenthesis full of such solemn matter, as that of Eph_3:2-12” (Alford).—To take the whole chapter as parenthetical is still more objectionable. In that case the digression were too long, and the parts of the chapter would not find their proper connection; besides chap. 4. does not resume the thought begun in our verse.—R.]
Eph_3:2. The apostolic office is a gift of grace.
If indeed ye have19 heard, εἴ γε ἠκούσατε.—It is evident, first of all, that εἰ cannot be regarded as purely hypothetical, since it is written by the prisoner “in behalf of you,” and also since the object they have learned: “the dispensation of the grace of God,” will not admit of such a view. It is not necessary, however, to take it as=ἐπεί, since, Act_4:9; Rom_11:21; 1Jn_4:11; see Winer, p. 417. The same is true of εἴ γε in Eph_4:21; for there, immediately after Eph_3:20 (“but ye did not so learn Christ”), expressing accurate knowledge of the church, we find: εἴ γε αὐτὸν ἠκούσατε, “if indeed ye have heard him.” The particle occurs elsewhere only in Col_1:23; Gal_3:4 (2Co_5:3, we have in various readings both εἴ γε and εἴπερ). It does not necessarily indicate a doubt, as does εἴπερ (Hermann, ad Viger., p. 833), and hence is more like ἐπείγε, though it must not be regarded as precisely equivalent. In the form there is expressed an uncertainty, an assumption, which challenges a self-scrutiny in the case of every reader or hearer. [“Assuming that;” Alford, Ellicott, not in itself implying the rectitude of the assumption made, which depends on the context.—R.] The context, however, confirms the truth of the assumption, that they have heard. This turn of expression is therefore a rhetorical,“a more elegant and suggestive reminder” (Meyer) of the preaching of Paul, as if he had written: “for ye have heard,” or “since ye have heard.” Estius: “εἴγε non est dubitantis, sed potius affirmantis.” Or we may say with Stier, that it is pre-supposition, not without a slight touch of irony, in case it were otherwise; or still more correctly: in case they would not consider the Apostle as the Apostle of the Lord for them; not to have recognized Paul, not to have received his teaching would he equivalent to not having heard. Hence it is not correct to conclude from these words, that the Epistle was not written to Ephesus (see Introd. §5, 2). Nor does this phraseology render it necessary to accept a wider, partially unknown, circle of readers (Harless, Stier, Bleek and others). The assumption of Calvin is inadmissible: “It is credible, that when he labored in Ephesus, he was silent on these topics.” Nor is it at all necessary to do violence to the verb, and render it: firmiter retinetis (Pelagius), intellexistis (Anselm, Grotius and others). The reference is simply to preaching, especially that of Paul; hence this is termed ἀκοή (Rom_10:16 f.). [See Romans, in loco, p. 349.—R.]
Of the dispensation of the grace of God [τὴνοἰκονομίαν τῆς χάρι τος τοῦ θεοῦ].—Οἰκονομία here follows the close of chap. 2 with its οἰκοδομή. There the building of “an habitation” is treated of, here the establishment of a household, a νέμειν (Stier). See on Eph_1:10. This is a matter belonging to God, or still more closely to “the grace of God.” Hence it is to be regarded not as an apostolic function (Pelagius, Anselm, Luther: office [Hodge] and others), but as a Divine arrangement. It must also be remembered that we find here, not χάρισμα, but χάρις. This χάρις is then more closely defined:
Which is given me to you-ward.—Τῆς δοθείσης μοι, as in Rom_12:3; Rom_15:15; 1Co_3:10; Gal_2:9, with ὑμῖν 1Co_1:4. Hence it is not to be understood of Apostolic office exclusively; although the context here points to that (εἰς ὑμᾶς, as in Gal_2:8, εἰς τὰ ἐθνη). Εἰς ὑμᾶς marks the readers as the object about which the Apostle’s position and activity was concerned, and is neither=ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, vestra causa (Morus), nor=ἐν ὑμῖν, in vobis ( Vulgate) or inter vos, but upon, towards you; as εἰς ἡμᾶς, Eph_1:19 : hence it is not merely: with respect to you (Rueckert). [“To you-ward,” though now unusual, expresses very well the precise shade of meaning.—R.]
Thus the apostolic office is described as a gift of God’s grace, yet not so imparted and conferred that a “dispensation” is not necessary in addition, but so that the person himself (μοι) is especially prepared for it. Here we must include all that God had done for and in Paul, from childhood on (Gal_1:15), near and in Damascus (Act_9:1 ff; Act_22:3 ff; Act_26:12 ff.); in Jerusalem (Act_22:21) and elsewhere (Gal_2:8; 1Co_15:8-10; 2Co_12:1-10). So Rueckert especially. To regard this as merely munus apostolicum gratiose, immerito beneficio Divino creditum is too superficial. Nor can we in accordance with Col_1:25 : “the dispensation of God which was given to me for you,” explain it thus, that the administrative office of the Divine grace was committed to him (Anselm, Grotius and others); here τῆς δοθείσης belongs to χάριτος, here the matter is regarded under a different aspect, and the context is different, since “heard” is the governing verb, and the office is not heard.
[This view of οἰκονομία is defended by Eadie, Alford, Ellicott (Hodge mentions it, though he thinks it differs from his own merely in form). The only remaining question is respecting the genitive. It is obviously not that of the subject, but either that of the object, “the material with respect to which the dispensation was to be exercised” (Alford) or that of “the point of view” (Ellicott). These scarcely differ here, but some such sense is favored by the passive verb ἐγνωρίσθη (Eph_3:3 where the Rec. has ἐγνώρισε).—R.]
The method of communication. Eph_3:3-4.
Eph_3:3. That, ὅτι, gives prominence to a particular part of what they have heard, the essential part of the dispensation of the grace of God. [Alford: “Epexegesis of the fact implied in ἠκουσατε τὴν οἰκ., viz., of the fact that: as we say ‘how that.’ ” That is the literal rendering, “how that” is a rather inelegant exegesis.—R.]
By revelation was made known to me [κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν ἐγνωρίσθη μοι].—The emphasis here rests on “by revelation,” since it comes first. As neither τινα nor τήν is added, the reference is not to some particular event, definite in itself, but not more closely indicated (Act_9:1 ff., as Olshausen thinks, or Act_22:21), nor to some occurrence definitely designated, but rather to the mode of making known. It is an adverbial qualification of ἐγνωρίσθη=ἀπεκαλύφθη (Eph_3:5), or like Gal_1:15-16. Κατά denotes, as in κατʼ ἄνθρωπον (Rom_3:5 and frequently), κατὰ χάριν (Rom_4:4), a mode which obtains or prevails (Winer, p. 375). [So Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Hodge apparently.—R.] Even διʼ ἀποκαλύψεως (Gal_1:12) does not point to a single revelation (Stier). [Comp. in loco. Ellicott says the allusion in the phrase as it occurs Gal_2:2 “is rather to the norma or rule, here to the manner.”—R.] It might be interpreted (according to Passow, sub voce, Eph_2:3, p. 1598 b) like ἔρχεσθαι κατὰ θήραν, to go hunting, or 2Ti_1:1 : ἀπόστολος κατʼ ἐπαγγελίαν, apostle for the proclamation; indeed G. Hermann explains Gal_2:2 : for the explanation, proclamation, presentation. But ἀποκάλυψις is only what occurs to man from God, not what men have to impart to one another. The word μοι, placed last, indicates that he treats of something which does not distinguish him personally, but which belongs to his office: “Revelation” and “apostles and prophets” are correlatives; γνωρίζειν is the general making known, but ἀποκάλυψις denotes that by means of which the official personages thus endowed are immediately distinguished, by means of which the Apostles become prophets. See Eph_3:5 and Doctr. Notes on Eph_2:20.
The mystery, τὸ μυστήριον, altogether indefinite, is, like Eph_1:9, the decree of salvation and grace in Christ (Stier), the renewing of humanity through Christ, especially moreover the calling of the Gentiles (Allioli). To refer it to the latter exclusively (most commentators from Chrysostom to Harless, Meyer, Schenkel, Bleek) is not admissible, even though Eph_3:6 follows.
[On the precise reference of the word “mystery” in this chapter. The great majority of commentators, including Hodge, Eadie, Alford, Ellicott, accept the more restricted view just mentioned, but admit the wider reference in Eph_3:4 (and many in Eph_3:9). The reasons for so doing are quite strong: the purport of the mystery is set forth in Eph_3:6, the dispensation of grace spoken of is “to you-ward,” a leading thought of the Epistle has been this calling of the Gentiles to fellowship with the Jews. Nor can it be urged against this, that it presents a matter unworthy of this designation and not at all mysterious. Tholuck (Rom_11:25) thus classifies the meanings of our term: (1) “Such matters of fact, as are inaccessible to reason, and can only be known through revelation: (2) such matters as are patent facts, but the process of which cannot be entirely taken in by the reason.” In the latter sense, the calling of the Gentiles was a “mystery,” is so still in view of the separatism, which to the Gentile mind is in some aspects yet stronger. Evidently the indefinite reference, which leaves this special fact out of view, is inadmissible, while Eph_3:4 seems to require the wider meaning. Accordingly the alternating reference has been accepted to meet these requirements. To my mind it is unsatisfactory: (1) It seems unlikely that a word should thus vary so speedily, when there is so little to mark a difference. (2) The difficulty in construction is thus increased: the E. V. accepts a parenthesis so as to connect Eph_3:5-6 with “mystery” in our verse, and thus leave the wider reference of Eph_3:4, undisturbed; but this is altogether arbitrary, since the relative clause (Eph_3:5) is to be joined directly with “mystery” (Eph_3:4) in accordance with the common structural usages of the Apostle. (3) Since then the grammatical connection is such, the purport of “the mystery of Christ” is set forth in Eph_3:6, and the alternating reference has lost its one great object, viz., the extension of the meaning in Eph_3:4.
It seems best then to accept Braune’s view, but with somewhat more definiteness in statement. “The mystery” throughout is one mystery, but in view of the universalism of the Epistle and the current of thought in this section, it here appears as complex, precisely as the notions of “enmity” and “peace” in the preceding section: the mystery of redemption, whose centre is the Person of Christ, whose object and purport is Christ, taking that term as including the Body of which He is the Head, which He has redeemed, and in which the Gentiles are “fellow-members” (σύσσωμα, Eph_3:6); the latter thought being the special reference throughout, though never to the exclusion of the wider thought, since Eph_3:6 itself with its compounds of συν compels us to think of the one inheritance, body and promise which the gospel presents. Van Oesterzee well remarks (Lange’s Comm. 1Ti_3:16, p. 47): “Paul knows one only great mystery,” the chief truth of which as revealed to us is the Person of Christ in its connection with the Body of Christ, as the passage in the Epistle to Timothy itself teaches, and as is not obscurely hinted in. Eph_5:32 of our Epistle. With this thought of union as the ruling one, no wonder the special reference to the union of Jews and Gentiles comes in without in the least disturbing or excluding the more general one.—R.]
As I have written afore in few words [καθὼς προέγραψα ἐνὀλίγῳ.—The English perfect brings out the force of the verb best, though it is not a literal rendering. The parenthesis of the E. V. is altogether unnecessary, the linking of clauses by relatives being common in this Epistle.—R.] Καθώς indicates that Paul has written only as “it has been made known to him by revelation,” of course, from God. This the context demands (Eph_3:2; Eph_3:4). This writing has therefore great importance. The verb refers to what is written already. The phrase ἐνὀλίγῳ, in brief=διὰ βραχέων (Chrysostom, Heb_13:22); in Plato: διʼ ὀλίγων, as in 1Pe_5:12. The preposition is, at all events, local: in little space=συντύμως, Act_24:4; Act_26:28. (ἐν ὀλίγῳ sc. χρόνῳ). Pauca tantum attigi, cum multa dici possent (Wetstein). Accordingly we must apply it to the whole Epistle up to this point; in comparison with the wealth of the truth revealed, its fulness, its wide-reaching, deep-moving efficiency, what he writes is to him always little and brief. He thus speaks in modesty respecting his writings, not as though the time for a more thorough treatise failed him (Schenkel). The reference is to such passages as Eph_1:9 ff.; Eph_1:17 ff.; Eph_2:4 ff.; Eph_2:11 ff., not to one passage especially,20 as those expositors must hold, who limit “mystery.” Since he is speaking of local precedence alone, not of temporal, “written before “cannot be referred to a previous Epistle (Chrysostom, Calvin: ferre omnium consensu) as προειρήκαμεν (Gal_1:9), προλέγω, προεῖπον (Gal_5:21), point to something spoken at a previous time; so 2Co_13:2; 1Th_3:4; προεγράφη Rom_15:4 must be understood of a prophetic writing with respect to the future. But Rom_3:9 : προῃτιασάμεθα, as in the present instance, relates to what precedes, in the same Epistle. The explanation: paulo ante (Theodoret, Calvin, Estius and others) is incorrect.
Eph_3:4. In accordance with which, while reading, ye can perceive.—ΙΙρὸς ὃ δύνασθε—νοῆσαι must at all events be joined together. ΙΙρός with the accusative denotes the measure (Rom_8:18) as well as the norm (2Co_5:10; Gal_2:14). Comp. Winer, p. 378. The relative ὅ refers to what was written briefly before, as the measure by which to reckon, on which to measure; hoc non refertur præcise ad paucis, sed ad totum noëma et πρός notat analogiam ex ungue leonem (Bengel). Accordingly it is not to be applied merely to what was written before (Meyer: προέγραψα), or to ἐν ὀλίγῳ (Stier); nor is it=prout (Jerome), nor= ἐν ᾡ̄ (Koppe), nor= ἐξ οὑ̄ (Flatt), since what precedes is neither the source or ground, but can only be the measure. [Eadie prefers the sense “in reference to which,” but “in accordance with” is adopted by Alford, Ellicott (whose note in loco on this preposition is a marvel of neatness and exactness) and others, favored by Hodge, who adds: “what he had written might be taken as the standard or evidence of his knowledge.”—R.]
With δύνασθε (Bengel: moderate et liberaliter positum verbum) Paul refers cautiously to the ability which can be affirmed of every one; of the willingness he says nothing, that must come in afterwards. Modestly he points to what they can do, leaving to them the doing, neither commanding nor demanding it. The subject is each and all in the Church. Δύνασθε stands first very properly, since it is the emphatic word. The conditio sine qua non is indeed ἀναγινώσκοντες, reading, while ye read; not attendentes (Calvin). Nor does he say: άκούοντες, hearing; he conceives of each one reading for himself. The present tense suggests repeated reading (Grotius). To the Greek reading [as the word indicates] was a second perception following the first perception of the author; to the Roman and German the immediate thought is of connecting the letters and joining the words (legere, lesen). [The present participle here indicates an act contemporary with that of the perception: while reading.—R.] Νοῆσαι is not exactly equivalent to συνιέναι; they differ as do our “perceive” and “understand.” Comp. Mar_8:17; Tittmann, Syn. I., p. 191. The readers perceive that which Paul understands. It is not a knowledge possible through reflection (Rueckert), but a kind of immediate perception (Eph_3:20; Rom_1:20; Heb_11:3; Mat_15:17).21
My understanding in the mystery of Christ.—Τὴν σύνεσίν μου ἐν τῷ μυστηρίῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ.—These words are to be taken together as the object of νοῆσαι (Meyer). Σύνεσις used with σοφία (Col_1:9), has a πληροφορία (Col_2:2; 2Ti_2:7), is vox media (1Co_1:19), and marks an especial knowing, that penetrates and commands its subject, as in the case of a master of the science (Joh_3:11). “The mystery of Christ” (Col_4:3) is the mystery, which has Christ for its object and purport; Christ Himself is the concrete Divine mystery. Col_1:27 (Meyer, Stier).22 It is evident that μυστηρίον is not an absolute secret, since there is an “understanding” with respect to it. See Eph_1:9. Beza: “Optimo vero jure de se ista prædicare apostolum, re ipsa cognoscet, quisquis perspexerit, quam sublimiter et prorsus divine totum illud argumentum ab initio epistolæ pertractarit.” In the connection in which Paul writes, in virtue of his office and by writing labors in and for the Church two things are evident and properly placed together; that he urgently directs the Church to what is written as a standard for their judgment respecting him, as the Apostle, by whom it is said to them, and ascribes to them unconstrained ability and freedom for examination.
Hence the inferences drawn from this passage against the genuineness of the Epistle are inadmissible. It is not necessary that he should refer to his labors among them, since his σύνεσις is under discussion, and both the subject-matter itself and his mode of treating it in this Epistle are well adapted to make them aware of this. 1Co_14:37; 1Jn_4:6. Comp. Introd. § 5, 2. [See Eadie on the reasons for professing such a knowledge of the mystery. Meyer properly intimates that this verse is worthy of the Apostle (against De Wette, Schwegler), and that an imitator would never have written it. In fact an imitator would have probably thought of it as De Wette does!—R.]
Eph_3:5. The period and persons concerned in the communication.—Which, ὅ, refers to “the mystery of Christ” (Eph_3:4), not to “the mystery” (Eph_3:3); in which case we should have to regard what follows καθώς as a parenthesis (Wetstein, [E. V.], and others). [Dr. Hodge seems disposed to regard Eph_3:4 as a parenthesis, but the relative forms a direct connection. The other construction is an attempt to avoid the difficulty which arises in taking Eph_3:6 as the purport of the “mystery of Christ.”—R.]
In Other generations.—The dative ἑτέραις γενεαῖς, is a temporal qualification, which is of very common occurrence; see Winer, p. 205. Son_2:12; Mat_12:1 : τοῖς σάββασι; Luk_13:14 : τῷ σαββάτῳ. The word γενεά designates the lineage, the family, Mat_1:1; Mat_1:17; also in a spiritual sense, Mat_17:17; Mar_9:19. Then a generation, Mat_24:34; Luk_1:48; Luk_21:32; Php_2:15; and also an age, Act_14:16; Act_15:21; Luk_1:50; Col_1:26 (ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων καὶ τω̆ν γενεῶν); here the temporal idea is the prominent one, only a shorter period of about 33 years is meant. There is no ground for taking it as=time, era (Schenkel); and still greater objection to retaining the meaning: lineage, and taking it as an ordinary dative, so that “the sons of men” is an epexegesis, which sets forth in concreto what is meant by the “generations” (Meyer). The antithesis “now” demands a temporal definition here. Yet it must be noticed, that the word “generations” is chosen on account of the various stages of revelation to the patriarchs, Moses, David and the prophets.
[Meyer, in his 4th edition, gives up his former opinion, adopting the usual view of our word, mainly on the ground that νῦν requires an antithetical temporal qualification here. Still he correctly insists on the meaning “generations,” over against “times” or “periods.” Hodge apparently inclines to the earlier view of Meyer.—The word is used in the LXX. to translate the Hebrew word דּוֹר, which admits of the temporal signification, now generally attached to γενεαῖς in this passage. Ellicott remarks that in one case (Isa_24:22) even יָמִים is thus rendered.—R.]
Was not made known, οὐκ ἐγνωρίσθη.—This in distinction from ἀποκαλύφθη is something more general and indefinite. Bengel: Notificatio per Revelationem (Eph_3:3) est fons notificationis per præconium. Revelatio est quiddam specialius; Notificatio fit ad reliquos etiam auditores, Revelatio tantum ad prophetas.
To the sons of men, τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.—Only here and in Mar_3:28. Latissima appellatio, causam exprimens ignorantiæ, ortum naturarum (Bengel, who adds with over nicety: de statu vetere loquitur idiotismo linguæ hebraicæ). The antithesis is found in “His holy apostles and prophets,” which moreover compels us to give prominence to the “need of men born of men” (Harless), while ἐν πνεύματι suggests the lack of the regeneration, correlated to revelation (Stier); so that under the term בְּנֵי־אָדָם we must include also the Old Testament men of God, such as Abraham (Gal_3:8), and even the prophets (Rom_9:24-29; Rom_15:9-12), whom Jerome would exclude. Bengel, however, is incorrect, when he says: denotari præcipue Prophetas antiques, v. g. Ezechielem, qui sæpe dicitur בֶּן־אָדָם; thus he is described not as a prophet, but as a man born of men. [Eadie thinks the phrase was suggested by the word γενεά. “Sons succeeded fathers, and their sons succeeded them; so that by ‘sons of men’ is signified the successive band of contemporaries whose lives measured these fleeting γενεαί.”—R.]
As it has been now revealed.—Ὡς contrasts now (νῦν) and formerly. On account of this ὡς, we must take οὐκ ἐγνωρίσθη as = οὐχ οὕτως ἐγνωρίσθη, “not thus made known,” and supply here in thought: “through their words and works” (Chrysostom). Comp. Doctr. Notes. It is only asserted that the knowledge of the mystery in former times is not to be regarded as at all equal to the knowledge which now exists; the latter is immeasurably deeper, richer, clearer than the former. It is incorrect to interpret ὡς as=while, and to infer that the mystery was not all known before (Bleek); that cannot be asserted.
His holy apostles and prophets.—The Apostles are ἅγιοι, because they are Christians; Paul can have no hesitation in affirming of the Apostles, what he had already said of the whole Church (Eph_1:1); of course a higher degree is involved here, especially since they, as well as the Old Testament prophets, who are called “holy,” Luk_1:70; Act_3:21; 2Pe_1:21 (various reading), are termed “prophets.” The Apostles also were of themselves naturally only “the sons of men,” but like the Christians a holy ἐκλογή. “His,” according to the context (Eph_3:2), must be understood of God, and “apostles and prophets,” especially on account of the word “now,” must be interpreted as in Eph_2:20. It is incorrect to regard τοὶς ἁγίοις as qualified by what follows as an appositional phrase. [So Lachmann, Bisping].
In the Spirit, ἐν πνεύματι, is to be joined with the verb, and defines the modality of the revelation and its communication. It cannot be joined either with “prophets” (Chrysostom)23 or with “holy” (Meier), still less with what follows (Erasmus). It Is not however = διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, 1Co_2:10 (Luther: durch den Geist), [E. V., Hodge, Ellicott, Meyer], but denotes the life-sphere, within which the revelation is accomplished: one must live in the Spirit to be a partaker in the revelation. Bengel: cujus donum Novo Testamento reservatum ad Christum glorificandum. The glory of the revelation and the importance of the Apostolic office so overpower Paul here, that he forgets himself altogether.
[Olshausen: “It is certainly peculiar, that Paul here calls the Apostles, and consequently himself among them, ‘holy Apostles.’ It is going too far when De Wette finds in this a sign of an unapostolic origin of the Epistle; but still the expression remains an unusual one. I account for it to myself thus—that Paul here conceives of the Apostles and Prophets, as a corporation (comp. Eph_4:11), and as such, in their official character, he gives them the predicate ἅγιος, as he names believers, conceived as a whole, ἅγιοι or ἡγιασμένοι, but never an individual.”—R.]
Eph_3:6. The purport of the mystery. That the Gentiles are (εἶναι τὰ̀ ἔθνη).—The infinitive, standing here in emphatic position, is ep-exegetical of μυστήριον, “mystery,” hence not to be joined with “revealed” (Flatt), or with “made known,” nor is εἰς τό to be supplied; and it should not be taken as= γίνεσθαι. [“A mystery is not a secret design, but a secret fact” (Alford); hence “are,” not “should be.” So most commentators.—R.]
Fellow-heirs.—Συγκληρονόμα, not as in Rom_8:17 (Χριστοῦ), but “of the saints” (Eph_2:19), the believing Israel. Comp. Eph_1:14; Eph_1:18; Gal_3:29. With the saints they are heirs of God (Rom_8:17), as His children. That is the highest privilege.—Fellow-members [of the same body].—Καὶ σύσσωμα denotes, by means of a peculiarly formed word, the membership in that body, the Head of which is Christ (Eph_1:23; Eph_2:12; Eph_2:16).—Fellow-partakers of the promise, καὶ συμμέτοχα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας. [See Textual Note6]. This denotes participation in the promise (Eph_1:13; Eph_2:12; Gal_3:14), the fulfilment of which is already begun, but by no means completed as yet; βασιλεία γὰρ ἔπήγγελται παρὰ τοῦ πατρός (Œcumen.). It refers neither in general to res or bona promissa, nor in particular to the Holy Ghost alone, as Bengel, [Eadie] and Stier think, who find a reference to the Head, Christ, in “fellow-members,” and to the Father in “fellow-heirs,” and thus to the Trinity as in Eph_4:4-6; Eph_4:18; Eph_4:21; Eph_4:30; Eph_5:1-2; Eph_5:18; 2Co_13:13. There is as little ground for this as there is indication of a climax (Jerome, Pelagius, Schenkel: heir, possessor, partaker). For “fellow-heir” comprises the whole, on the ground of the relation to God as a Father, who has prepared an inheritance for His children; the two added terms respect their relation among each other: the first arising from the relation of the community to which dependence attaches, me other springing directly from the personality regarded as self-inclusive; the first marks the membership in the Church, the relation to it, the second the independence of the individuals, their relation in and of itself. Hence it cannot be said, that what is already sufficiently expressed by the term “fellow-heir,” is repeated twice afterwards, once figuratively and the second time literally (Meyer), or that Paul creatively rummaged in the language (Kalmis), or that the first term contains a personal and substantive reference (Harless), which is further indicated by the other two. [Ellicott’s view resembles that of Braune, but is more clearly expressed: “The general fact of the συνκληρονομία is re-asserted, both in its outward and inward relations. The Gentiles were fellow-heirs with the believing Jews in the most unrestricted sense: they belonged to the same corporate body, the faithful; they shared to the full in the same spiritual blessings: the ἐπαγγελία.”—R.]
In Christ Jesus through the Gospel.—“In Christ Jesus,” defines “are” more closely and, like this, relates to all three of the preceding words. It cannot be joined with “promise” (Koppe, Baumgarten-Crusius). Thus Paul indicates that all is communicated only in Him, the God-man. Hence “through the Gospel” is added, in order to point to the means by which that objectively given in Christ, already proffered and prepared, is brought to the individual, is presented for his subjective appropriation. Because Paul is speaking of his office and calling, he must add this also.
The ministry and unworthiness of the recipient; Eph_3:7-8 a.
Eph_3:7. Whereof I became a minister [οὑ̄ ἐγενήθην διάκονος].—“Whereof” refers to “Gospel” (Col_1:23; Col_1:25).—Διάκονος; (Col_1:7) is a synonym of ὑπηρέτης (1Co_4:1; Mat_26:58; Mar_14:54; Mar_14:65; Joh_7:32; Joh_7:45 f., etc.); and according to its etymology (διὰ—κόνις,24 dust), like the latter (ὑπὸ—ἐρέτης, rower), designates a servant of a lower order, while οἰκόνομος (1Co_4:1; Tit_1:7; 1Pe_4:10) denotes one as related to the property, συνεργός (1Co_3:9; 1Th_3:2), as related to the works of his Master, δοῦλος (Eph_6:6; Col_4:12; Rom_1:1; Rom_6:16; 1Co_7:21; Gal_1:10; Php_1:1), in his dependence, on his Master, λειτουργός (Rom_13:6; Rom_15:16) in his devotion. It is incorrect to assert that διάκονος describes the servant in his activity for the service, ὑπερέτης in that for his Master (Harless). [See Meyer and Ellicott against Harless].—Ἐγενήθην marks more strongly than ἐγεςόμην [Rec.] his becoming a servant, refers to a development, even if not as Œcumenius (οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐγὼ ἔργον ἐμὸν συνεισήνεγκα τῇ χάριτι ταύτῃ), Rueckert and others think; that thought is found in the context, not in the word.
According to the gift of the grace of God [κατὰ τὴν δωρεὰν τὴς χάριτος τοῦθεοῦ].—Κατά marks the fact that Paul’s becoming a minister of the Gospel had for its norm the grace of God. Δωρεά (Eph_4:7; Rom_5:17), the single gift, like δῶρον (Eph_2:8), marks the free present. “The grace of God” sets forth the nature, purport of the gift. [The genitive is one of apposition or identity; the grace was the gift.—R.] Luther accordingly is incorrect: according to the gift out of grace, as if this were the source, the dispenser, while the gift itself was something else, such as the gift of tongues (Grotius), the Holy Ghost (A-Lapide, Flatt). It is in accordance with the context to think of the Apostolic office [Hodge, Eadie]; but the grace of God, which Paul had received, prepared him for this; He cannot use for His service persons as they are. He must convert and transform them for this end (Eph_2:10).
Which was given to me.—Tischendorf retains τὴν δοθεῖσαν in spite of the Cod. Sin. [See Textual Note9. The received reading makes “given” agree with “gift;” the other with “grace,” the sense being the same in either case.—R.]
According to the working of his power [κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ].—”According to the working” (Eph_1:19) marks that the gift has been bestowed, not according to the receptivity of the recipient, but according to the efficiency of the Giver. [This prepositional clause depends on τῆς δοθείσης μοι, defining the mode of giving. This justifies the seeming tautology: “the gift given to me.” Meyer, whom Ellicott cites in favor of connecting the phrase with the leading verb, now adopts this simpler view. Dr. Hodge accepts without remark the incorrect rendering of the E. V., which, not content with the instrumental sense it imposes so frequently on ἑν, here gives κατά the same sense: by.—R.] “Of His power” gives prominence to God’s power, and throws Paul’s person into the back-ground; yet recalls the fact, as he himself does in Eph_3:8, that it is precisely the persecutor who has become an Apostle, the narrow-minded, proud Pharisee who has been transformed into the most large-hearted and humble servant of the Gospel to the Gentiles (Stier). Calvin: In hoc dono prædicat Dei potentiam, ac si diceret: nolite respicere, quid sim meritus, quia dominus ultro mihi sua liberalitate hoc contulit, ut sim apostolus gentium, non mea, dignitate, sed ejus gratia. Nolite etiam respicere qualis fuerim; nam domini est, homines nihili extollere. Hæc est potentiæ ejus efficacia, ex nihilo grande aliquid efficere.
Eph_3:8. To me, who am less than the least, ἐμοὶ τῷ ἐλαχιστοτέρῳ.—The pronoun in the dative stands first, somewhat remarkably; we might rather expect: αὕτη ἡ χάρις ἐδόθη τῷ ἐλαχιστοτέρῳ πάντων, this very grace is grace to less than the least of all. But the pronoun refers to Eph_3:1, and must be joined with it. It is scarcely possible that after the grammatical and logical conclusion of the sentence begun in Eph_3:1 (Eph_3:7 : τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοὺ) another entirely new sentence should begin in Eph_3:8, only to introduce a parenthetical thought, especially as the sentence closes with Eph_3:12, beyond which the supposed parenthesis must be continued. [The objections to this view of the connection will be found in my note at the close of Eph_3:1. Dr. Braune’s difficulty suggested above is not so singular in a writer like Paul as the resumption by means of a dative. As regards the logical connection, Ellicott remarks: “No addition was required to the former period; the great Apostle however so truly, so earnestly felt his own weakness and nothingness (2Co_12:11), that the mention of God’s grace towards him awakens within, by the forcible contrast it suggests, not only the remembrance of his former persecutions of the Church (1Co_15:9-10), but of his own sinful nature (1Ti_1:15) and unworthiness for so high an office.” The transition always seems natural to one who is familiar with Paul’s modes of thought.—R.]
Stier attempts to transfer the double comparative into the German: dem Gerinsteren. Bengel: Notio nominis Paulus cumulata per comparativum superlativo superiorem; quo se sanctis vix accenset; elegantissima modestia. A similar double comparative is found in 3Jn_1:4 : μειζοτέραν. Comp. Winer, p. 67, where he compares the Latin minimissimus, pessimissimus. [To this we may add excelsior, now almost naturalized in English; a word constructed precisely like Paul’s double comparative. The rendering of the E. V. cannot be improved.—R.] Comp. 1Co_15:9 : ἐλάχιστος τῶς ἀποστόλων. Here he cannot sufficiently express himself; here he speaks of the service of the Gospel in general. Accordingly he adds:
Of all saints, πάντων ἅγίων, i.e. Christians; he does not say of “Apostles,” nor yet “of men,” two interpretations, the latter of which is designed to exclude angels, without any ground. According to Php_3:6; 1Ti_1:13, Paul’s persecution of the Church of Christ is the strongest expression of sin in him, so that, according to the context, compared with all Christians, he regards himself as the most unworthy, because he is conscious of his sin and guilt, feeling that since God’s grace has helped him, there is no one whom it cannot and may not help.
Was this grace given, ἐδόθη ἡ χάρις αὕτη.—This is the grace which lies at the foundation of his vocation as Apostle (Stier), not the Apostolic office itself (Rueckert).—Αὕτη, “this,” points forward to what follows, which sets forth wherein this grace consists. What he has set forth in Eph_3:6 as the purport of the mystery, as the mission of the Apostles in general, he now represents as that which is committed to him. There is not therefore here a parenthesis and exclamation of joy: “to me less than the least, is this grace given!” so that what follows is to be joined with “gift,” Eph_3:7 (Harless); for Eph_3:2-12 do not form an interpolation, but the sentence begun in Eph_3:1 is entirely broken off, and αὕτη does not refer to what precedes, nor Isa_2:6 to be compared with this construction.
The magnitude of the mission; Eph_3:8 b, 9.
Eph_3:8 b. To preach to the Gentiles [τοῖς ἔθνεσιν εὐαγγελίσασθαι.—“An explanatory and partly appositional clause,” Ellicott.—R.] The infinitive here sets forth the mission of the gift of grace, as in Eph_3:6 it indicated the purport of the mystery. See Winer, p. 298. The dative, which in accordance with the context stands first for emphasis, is a more difficult reading than if ἐν were inserted, as in Gal_1:16. [See Textual Note10.] Yet to Paul was committed the task of preaching to the Gentiles (Gal_1:16; Gal_2:8; 1Ti_2:7; Act_9:15; Act_22:21; Act_26:17), not merely among the Gentiles; he should do what he could, the completed solution of the problem belongs to God.
The unsearchable riches of Christ, τὸ ἀνεξιχνίαστον πλοῦτος τοῦ Χριστοῦ.—Theodoret is excellent: καὶ πῶς κηρύττεις, εἴπερ ὁ πλοῦτος ἀνεξιχνίαστος; Τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτο, φησι, κηρύττω, ὅτι ἀνεξιχνίαστος. Rom_11:32. “Of Christ” is not an abbreviated form for the grace, the goodness of Christ, but refers rather to the fulness of the glory (Harless). [Alford: “The fulness of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption—all centred and summed up in Him.”—R.] Bucer: Jam evangelium exponit investgabiles divitias Christi, non illas quidem, quas nemo nostrum percipere potest, sic enim frustra prædicaretur nobis evangelium; sed quod quisque pro modulo dono suo tantum percipiat opum cœlestium, quantum ad salutem, consequendam satis est. There is ever indeed an immeasurable remainder, and poor needy souls seek in vain to exhaust it (Berlenburger Bible). Comp. Eph_3:19; 1Co_13:9-12. [Exhaustless “both in its nature, extent and application” (Ellicott).—R.]
Eph_3:9. And to make all see, καὶ φωτίσαι πάντας.—This adds to “preach,” a further task of the Apostle, which is accomplished by means of the preaching of the gospel; what the gospel can do (2Co_4:4 : τὸν φωτισμον τοῦ εὐαγγελίου) this the evangelizing Apostle effects, whose word enlightens as a “word of prophecy,” which is a “light shining in a dark place” (2Pe_1:19). He is bidden “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light” (Act_26:18). See Eph_1:18; Heb_6:4; Heb_10:32; Psa_119:130. The object is “all,” which according to the context, means the Gentiles hearing him; there is no reference to the Jews (Pelagius, Harless, Stier), since πάντας, “all,” following the emphatic τοῖς ἐθνεσιν (Eph_3:8) cannot receive any emphasis. Since, however, no such accusative as “eyes” is added, the verb “enlighten” refers to the whole man, spirit, heart, conscience, not merely to the perceptive faculty (Schenkel), nor is it =docere (Bengel). It is more than “make known,” almost equivalent to ἀποκάλυψις, revelation (Stier).25 As to what he enlightens the Gentiles then follows:
What is the dispensation of the mystery, τίς ἡ οἰκονομίατοῦ μυστηρίου.—See on Eph_1:9-10. The “mystery” here is not merely the calling of the Gentiles (Eph_3:6), but as in Eph_2:3; here “the actual accomplishment of the plan hitherto formed in secret” (Stier) is treated of. [Hodge favors the same view. Ellicott: “The dispensation (arrangement, regulation) of the mystery (the union of Jews and Gentiles in Christ, Eph_3:6), which was to be humbly traced and acknowledged in the fact of its having secretly existed in the primal counsels of God, and now having been revealed to the heavenly powers by means of the Church.” So Meyer, Alford and most. See on Eph_3:3, however.—R.]
Which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things [τοῦ ἀποκεκρυμένου ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων ἐν τῷ θεῷ τῷ τά πάντα κτίσαντι].—Τοῦ ἀποκεκρυμένου, is like σεσιγημένου Rom_16:25; comp. 1Co_2:7; Col_1:26. It has been hid ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων (Col_1:26;= ἀπʼ αἰῶνος, Luk_1:70; Act_3:21; in ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος, Joh_9:32), since the ages, from the beginning of the same; since there were men and angels, it has been revealed to none of them; before that there was no one, from whom it could be hid (Meyer). It was concealed “in God who created all things.” Thus God is marked as the Creator of the universe with all that therein is, of heaven and earth. Bengel: Antitheton ad creaturas, etiam excellentissimas, Eph_3:10. There is no ground for limiting “all things,” and referring it either to the moral creation26 (Calvin, Grotius, Morus, and others), which is forbidden both by the meaning of the word and by the aorist (κτίσας), or to the moral world (Holzhausen). Evidently, however, Redemption and creation are thus placed in relation and connection with each other; Bengel takes the latter as fundamentum omnis reliquiæ œconomiæ, pro protestate Dei universali liberrimæ dispensatæ; Stier regards the former as fundamentum creationis rerum omnium, even of angels. We can and must join together Creation and Redemption, as decrees, dare not separate them, even though the act of creation self-evidently precedes the act of Redemption and the acts of revelation, and is ordered with a view to these.
[The only question that arises in regard to this passage is this, Why is the creation introduced in this connection? Hodge deems it a mere expression of reverence, but this is unsatisfactory. Alford thinks the fact here expressed “involves His perfect right to adjust all things as He will,” thus the concealment is justified (so Rueckert). To this Meyer properly objects, that there is no logical connection of this kind, and Ellicott says: “A reference to God’s omniscience would more suitably have justified the concealment.” Olshausen’s view, that Redemption is itself a creative act seems equally irrelevant. It is either added to enhance the idea of God’s omnipotence (Ellicott), or better with Meyer, Eadie, and others, to indicate that God in creating the world included in His purpose and arrangement that development which forms the purport of the mystery.—R.]
The end with a glance at the final cause and also at the present; Eph_3:10-12.
Eph_3:10. To the intent that now, etc.—Upon what ἵνα depends will be best determined after the whole verse has been explained. Τνωρισθῆ νῦν is the order in the Greek, hence the former word is emphatic and corresponds with “hath been hid,” just as “now” does with “from the beginning.” Comp. Winer, p. 269. [We might render: “In order that there might be made known now,” (the last word having a secondary emphasis).—R.]
Unto the principalities and powers, ταῖς ἀρχαῖς καὶ ταῖς ἐξουσίαις.—Thus the objects, to which it is made known, are marked as of importance. See Eph_1:21. [The repetition of the article adds solemnity without distinguishing two classes.—R.]
In the heavenly places, ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, describes them more closely as to locality (comp. Eph_1:3); hence they are not earthly and human, either heathen priests, Jewish rulers or Christian church authorities, but angels, and good angels, who desire to look into these things (1Pe_1:12). Calvin: Quid enim egregium de evangelio prædicaret apostolus aut de gentium vocatione, si nunc primum diabolus innotuisse diceret? The context does not permit us to apply the terms to bad angels (Ambrosiaster), nor even to consider them as included (Bengel, Olshausen, Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, I. p. 361 f., Bleek), since it treats of a designed making known of the wisdom of God to His praise.27 That Paul did not concisely say “angels,” arises from the fact that here, as in Eph_1:21, he wishes to give prominence to their power and elevation, here to glorify the Church, as there to glorify Christ, hence the agency of angels in the world of nations is not indicated (Hofmann). In order to mark that a cosmical relation is under discussion here as in Eph_1:10, the “powers” are termed ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις. This added phrase is so joined with “principalities and powers” as to form a single conception; hence does not indicate the modality of the verb “made known” (Matthies). This is done by the next phrase.
Through the church, διὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας.—This is the theatre of the glory of God, of the Divine works (Bengel), see 1Co_4:9. It is a communion in heaven and on earth, the militant and triumphant church, and as such an object of interest to the good angels (Mat_18:10; Luk_15:7; Luk_15:10; 1Co_11:10; Heb_1:14). Luther renders: an die Gemeinde, on the church, which does not accurately present the means employed, as it makes of the church only an object of observation or a place of instruction, while the preposition διά presents it as an instructress, who makes known, not in words indeed, but by acts, conduct and character.
The manifold wisdom of God, ἡ πολυποίκιλος σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ.—ΙΙοίκιλος occurs with νόσοις, Mat_4:24; Mar_1:34; Luk_4:40, with ἐπιθυμίαις 2Ti_3:6, with ἡδοναῖς Tit_3:3, with δυνάμεσι Heb_2:4, with διδαχαῖς Heb_13:9, with πειρασμοῖς Jam_1:2 : 1Pe_1:6, with χάριτος 1Pe_4:10; 1Pe_3:7 (various reading) and means “various;” so that the special word πολυποίκιλος, occurring only here means multifarious, strengthening the idea of “manifold.” Accordingly it cannot be =very wise (Koppe), nor mean merely the wisdom which adjusts the antagonism between law and grace (Harless), but it refers “to those wondrous ways operating on the Church” of that God “who imparts reconciliation and actually edifies the church” (So Stier, who incorrectly limits it to the Holy Ghost), to the different treatment of different men, the various means He employs, so that He is “to each eternally another and yet to each eternally the same” (Lavater). Rom_11:33-34. The “wisdom” is indeed one, it is only its manifestation that is so manifold (Anselm); certainly it is not that of Gnosticism (Baur). What is said of the Old Testament in Heb_1:1 (“sundry times and divers mannners”) is true in the highest degree of the New Testament economy.
[Alford: “It is all one in sublime unity of truth and purpose: but cannot be apprehended by finite minds in this its unity, and therefore is by Him variously portioned out to each finite race and finite capacity of individuals—so that the Church is a mirror of God’s wisdom—chromatic, so to speak, with the rainbow colors of that light which in itself is one and undivided.” Ellicott: “The variety of the Divine counsels, which nevertheless all mysteriously co-operated toward a single end—the call of the Gentiles, and salvation of mankind by faith in Jesus Christ.” “That the holy angels are capable of a specific increase of knowledge, and of a deepening insight into God’s wisdom, seems from this passage clear and incontrovertible.”—R.]
It is evident then that this clause of design depends with its ἵνα on the clause: “What is the dispensation of the mystery.” The arrangement, management and guidance of this edifice (οἶκον νέμειν) is of precisely that kind (τίς), so planned, that (ἵνα) through the church as a collection of believing saints out of every land and condition the wisdom of God should in continued acts become perceptible and manifest to the participant and active angelic world in the most multifarious manner; that is the purpose of the “dispensation of the mystery, which from the beginning hath been hid in God who created all things.” The mystery has not been hid from the ages, in order that God’s wisdom might be revealed later (Meyer, Schenkel, [Eadie] Bleek), nor has God created all things, that this might be made known through the Church (Harless); this purpose and design does not form a closer definition of “mystery” nor of “God,” but of His “economy.” Nor is the ground of this purpose found in the task set before the Apostle Paul (Stier), his preaching and enlightening, but in that which he has to preach and about which he has to enlighten, which remains after him and his labor, upon which he entered as fellow-laborer; hence in the economy of God itself.
[This view of Braune is certainly plausible, but it is not preferable to that which he mentions last, viz., that this verse is joined with the “preaching” and “enlightening” of Eph_3:8-9 (so Olshausen, De Wette, Hofmann, Hodge, Ellicott, Alford, who however thinks the reference is to ἐδόθη, if one word must be singled out). The objection that this ascribes too much to Paul’s own preaching (Meyer) is scarcely valid in view of the current of thought and the fact that the “manifold wisdom” did manifest itself through the preaching of the Apostle to the Gentiles. Olshausen: “Paul contrasts the greatness of his vocation with his personal nothingness, and he therefore traces the design, of his mission through different steps. First, he says, he had to preach to the heathen; then to enlighten all concerning the mystery; and both, in order to manifest even to angels the infinite wisdom of God.”—To take ἵνα as ecbatic is altogether inadmissible. The connection with “created” is accepted by some who adopt the longer reading and refer this then to the moral creation. Harless however adopts the same connection in a supralapsarian sense. As this is the only passage in the New Testament which can be made to assert this view, it may be here remarked: (1) This is singular and involves a theory of creation which, however logical, becomes too terrific to be admitted on the strength of a doubtful exegesis. (2) It joins a marked final clause to a participle which depends on another participle which depends on an infinitive which depends on a leading verb. (3) The present manifestation is the end of a present operation, viz., the preaching and making known. (4) The end of creation is distinctly stated in Col_1:16 to be the personal Christ: εἰς αὐτόν, “Unto Him,” as causa finalis, “all things were created.”—R.]
Eph_3:11. According to the eternal purpose, κατὰ πρόθεσιν τῶν αἰώνων, evidently defines “might be made known,” not “manifold” (Anselm), nor “wisdom” (Koppe), certainly not Eph_3:3; Eph_3:5 (Flatt). The making known takes place according to the purpose “before the foundation of the world” (Eph_1:3). The genitive marks the relation to the ages, that this purpose will be retained during these, will remain in force and regulate them. Col_1:20 : αἶμα τοῦ σταυροῦ, 2Co_11:26 : κίνδυνοι ποταμῶν are similar; see Winer, p. 176. [Alford: “The genitive is apparently one of time, as when we say it has been an opinion of years:” “The duration all that time giving the αἰῶνες a kind of possession. If so, the sense is best given in English by ‘eternal,’ as in E. V.” Ellicott: “The purpose which pertained to, existed in, was determined on in the ages.” Two things we may hold fast to: (1) The general correctness of the rendering “eternal.” (2) The utter groundlessness of any Gnostic reference.—R.]
Which he wrought in Christ Jesus.—Ἡν ἐποίησεν refers of course to πρόθεσιν, not to σοφία (Luther: which He has shown), nor to ἐκκλησία (Erasmus): ΙΙρόθεσιν ποιεῖν means either to form a purpose (Rev_17:17; γνώμην ποιεῖν, Mar_15:1 : συμβούλιον ποιεῖν), or to execute one. The context points to the carrying out, which is however just begun: the mystery has already become clear in the gospel, it is no longer as before, and Eph_3:12, with its emphatic “we have,” gives prominence to the present time. Hence it is incorrect to render: “which He purposed” (Calvin, Rueckert, Harless, Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, 1 p. 230); in that case we would find the verb in the middle voice (ἐποιήσατο), which is used in a periphrasis like this (Winer, p. 240).28 To combine the two (Stier) is altogether improper; we must choose one or the other.—“In” denotes, that outside of Him who existed before all (Χριστῷ) and has now become incarnate (Ἰησοῦ) and without Him God’s purpose is not accomplished.
The added: Our Lord, τῷ κυρίῷ ἡμῶν, pointing to the time of His appearing, is added on account of the ἐκκλησία, the ἡμῶν, whose Head and Lord is Jesus the Christ. [Alford is forced by his view of the verb to apply the whole to Christ in His pre-existence, which is very unusual.—R.] It is now explicable why the angels through such a church obtain wider knowledge of God’s wisdom. At the same time the phrase introduces what follows.
Eph_3:12. In whom we have, ἐν ᾡ ἔχομεν.—[The relative has here a slightly demonstrative and explanatory force (Meyer, Ellicott).—R.] Here “we” evidently means those who are really in Him; our fellowship with Him is the fundamental thought. For the gifts which are afterwards mentioned, do not inhere in Him, as do Truth, Love, Life, but are states of mind resulting from fellowship with Him or ripened relations.
Our boldness and our access in confidence [τὴν παῤῥησίαν καὶ τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἐν πεποιθήσει. —On the first term see my remarks on John 2:28, Lange’s Comm., p. 82.29 It is used by Paul besides in Eph_6:19; Col_2:15; Php_1:20; 2Co_3:12; 2Co_7:4; 1Ti_3:13; Phm_1:8; and is found in Heb_3:6; Heb_4:16; Heb_10:19; Heb_10:35. Here it means the free, joyous spirit of the redeemed, and must not be limited either to libertas dicendi (Vatable), or to prayer (Bengel). Καὶ τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἐν πεποιθήσει, “our access in confidence,” forms a single conception; the last term is not to be joined with “boldness;” for that does not require as a closer definition what it has essentially in itself. “Access” (Eph_2:18) however requires it, since this may be feeble, timid, anxious, uncertain of acceptance.30 The “confidence” (πεποίθησις, only in Php_3:4; 2Co_1:15; 2Co_3:4; 2Co_8:22; 2Co_10:2), which expresses itself after the boldness (comp. Rom_8:38-39 with 31–37), is the childlike confidence in which the subject of grace approaches God. The phrase, therefore, is not to be joined, with “we have” (Meyer, Schenkel). [The latter view of the connection is adopted by Ellicott and Alford. While the other is admissible, there seems to be a gain in thought from joining it with the verb; see below—R. ]
Through our faith in Him [διὰ τῆς πίστεως αὐτοῦ].—The preposition marks that by means of which the fellowship we have with Him is brought about, and is a closer definition of ἔχομεν, “we have.” Τὴς πίστεως αὐτοῦ (only in Eph_4:13) like Rom_3:22, Gal_3:22, means faith on Him, viz., on Him, in whom “we have,” etc., on “Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph_3:11). This faith is the subjective means of the union and the continued fellowship (Rom_5:1-2). [Ellicott taking “in confidence” as a predication of manner defining the tone and frame of mind in which the “access” is enjoyed and realized, makes the following distinctions between the three qualifying phrases: “in whom” makes the objective ground of the possession, “through our faith in Him” the subjective medium by which, and “in confidence” the subjective state in which it is apprehended. Eadie: “That faith whose object is Jesus is the means to all who are Christ’s, first, of ‘boldness,’ for their belief in the Divine Mediator gives them courage; secondly of ‘access,’ for their realization of His glorified humanity warrants and enables them to approach the throne of grace; and thirdly these blessings are possessed ‘in confidence,’ for they feel that for Christ’s sake their persons and services will be accepted by the Father.”—R.]
Eph_3:13. Conclusion. Wherefore I beseech διὸ αἰτοῦμαι:—This refers to Eph_3:12 (“we have our boldness and our access”); he proves this in petition, of course, to God. [ See below however.] The middle voice, upon which however too great stress must not be laid (Col_1:9; Jam_1:6), denotes the praying for himself.
[ The reference seems rather to be to the whole paragraph: “Since I am the appointed minister of so great a matter” (Alford; so Eadie, Ellicott and now Meyer). The other view is perfectly grammatical, but joins this verse to a secondary thought, while the wider reference brings us back, as if the steps were being retraced, to Eph_3:1 : “the prisoner of Jesus Christ in behalf of you Gentiles,” the next verse passing further back to “for this cause.”—R.]
Not to faint, μὴ ἐγκακεῖν.—[Dr. Braune’s rendering is: I pray (God) not to become dispirited, i.e., that I become not dispirited; others I pray (God) that you faint not; while most accept the view which supplies ὑμᾶς as the object of the verb and the subject of the infinitive: “I beseech you not to faint.” See below.—R.] The subject according to the context, especially “in my tribulations,” is the Apostle. It is precisely the result of his prayer to God and his intercourse with Him that he is courageous and in high-hearted joy even in tribulations.—In my tribulations for you [ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσιν μου ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν].—The word θλίψις definitely shows that the subject is the Apostle; so does the expression ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, which is to be closely joined with θλἰψεσ́ν μου. Accordingly Paul does not ask the readers not to faint (Vulgate, Luther, Meyer, Bleek, and many others), but prays to God for himself.
[ This view of the verse is supported by such able commentators as Bengel, Rueckert, Harless (who however altogether joins unwarrantably joins ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν with αἰτοῦμαι) Olshausen, Turner, Baumgarten-crusius, and is favored by the Syriac version, Theodoret and Jerome. Still the majority of commentators from Chrysostom to the latest English expositors, reject it. With good reason too, for (1) it seems unpauline to insert such a prayer here; he rejoiced in suffering (Col_1:29) and gloried in infirmity (2Co_11:30), and was speaking of high privilege little likely to suggest faint-heartedness in himself. (2) The next clause presents, a motive (Meyer), which is irrelevant if the prayer is for himself. (3) Notwithstanding Braune’s remark, μου would be superfluous in that case. (4) Grammatically it is far simpler to supply ὑμᾶς as the object of the finite verb and the subject of the infinitive, than to supply θεόν as the object and then ἐμέ as subject—accusative; two words necessary to define the thought would scarcely be omitted, and the view we oppose necessarily requires two different words. If, as is natural, only one is to be supplied, that one must be ὑμᾶς.—Ἐν therefore denotes the sphere in which the faint-heartedness of the Ephesians might possibly be shown (Ellicott); the article is not necessary before ὑπέρ, since the close connection of thought is similar to that in Eph_3:1 : “prisoner for you Gentiles.”—R.]
Which are your glory [ἥτις ἐστὶ δόξα ὑμῶν].—Ἥτις put for αἵτινες by the attraction δόξα ὑμῶν (Winer, pp. 157, 505). The tribulations of the Apostle for the church are the honor, fame and glory of the same; it would be a detriment, distress and disgrace to the church, to have a founder and leader, who in tribulations became discouraged and despondent; but they confess a faith, for the proclamation of which the Apostles must bear heavy sorrow, yet compared with which sorrows are not to be dreaded, and they have a leader, whom they may joyously and confidently follow. This clause is not to be referred to “faint not” (Harless, Schenkel and others), nor is it to be left-indefinite in an oratorical sense (Rueckert). It is thus that he prays first for himself (Eph_3:13) and then (Eph_3:14) for the Ephesians (Rheufeld). Thus he closes the section concerning himself and his office, in order to pass to a supplication for the church.
[The reference of this clause to “tribulations” is to be maintained and is best indicated by restoring the plural form in English: which are (seeing that they are) your glory. The view of Braune stands or falls with that taken of the former part of the verse. It must be apparent that the other explanation is more satisfactory here. Ellicott well remarks too: “Glory accrued to the Ephesians from the official dignity, not the personal dignity of the sufferer.” Both because God so loved them as to give His Son first, and then to send His servants to suffering, (Chrysostom) and because these tribulations were the tokens of the freedom of the gospel (Eadie), are these “your glory.” He has now returned to his starting-point (Eph_3:1), and resumes the thought there broken off in Eph_3:14.—R.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The idea of substitution is more ethical than doctrinal, and finds a sphere in the whole human life, in its narrowest and widest circles. The Apostle suffers for his Church; his suffering is for her advantage. So the child lives at the expense of its parents; the child for whom no one suffers is a miserable creature, and the parents who do not suffer for their child, nor take sorrow on themselves to avert them from their offspring, are no true parents. So benefactors suffer for their wards, and suffering for them, remove their pain and need. So the shepherds of the people. The suffering of human life is in its widest range vicarious. Where this really exists, without some subtle selfishness, there it is without vanity, desire to please, ambition or vain-glory, there, just as one does his duty to his neighbor, faithful in the least, does he also bear and with joy dares suffer! And it is just he who has felt the truth of the vicarious sufferings of Jesus Christ, who can thus do. The Romanists acknowledge such vicarious suffering only in the case of the saints, we find it in all departments of our social life. As Paul was a martyr, so is every teacher, every mother. But they are only martyrs, i.e., witnesses of the everlasting mercy and the everlasting redemption, Christ Jesus is the author of redemption, the mediator of mercy.
2. The official service in the Church. On this subject this section contains important suggestions of various kinds.
a. First of all Paul feels that he is “the prisoner of Christ Jesus:” he has orders, powers, duties, rights and authority from the Master; quum verbum Christi—porrigunt (ministri), Christi vice et loco porrigunt (Apology Aug. Conf. Art. vii. viii. § 28), non repræsentant suam personam (the same, § 47).
b. The office is a gift of grace (Eph_3:2; Eph_3:7); beneficium seu gratia, non judicium seu lex (Apology, vi. § 6); it stands and falls with the church, so that “a priority attaches neither to the church before the office, nor to the office before the church; rather the office has never existed without the church, as the church has never existed without the office” (Harnack, Die Kirche, ihr Amt, ihr Regiment, § 41).
c. The office must be distinguished from the general calling of Christians as a special call of the church, but not separated from it (“less than the least of all saints,” Eph_3:8); there is no specific difference, and the ministers of the church remain members of the body of Christ, just as the private Christian does; both belong together and are included in the organism of the church. Hence the communicative “we have” (Eph_3:12). Here however is the distinction of the New Testament office, that it is not united with a class, family, or with definite persons, like that of the Old Testament. It is filled from among the “saints.”
d. In its nature the office is a διακονία (Eph_3:7 : οὖ ἐγενόμην διάκονος), ministerium, not a lordship; the free inquiry of the individual member in private must not be abridged (Eph_3:4). “For the Apostles did not receive a mandatum cum libera, i.e., an entirely free and unlimited authority and power, but a certain [i.e., definite] authority (Apology, xiv. § 18).
e. The gift of this office is God’s Word, and its task is the preaching of the same: “Gospel” (Eph_3:6), “to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, to make all see what is the dispensation of the mystery” (Eph_3:8-9); hence we must not preach our own words! So far it is juris Divini, belonging to the economy of salvation as a continuation of the apostolic ministry; not however of the ‘apostolate31 with apostolic dignity and authority, for the Apostles as persons have no successors. For this office too we must distinguish the empirical establishment of church offices, which is a matter of ecclesiastical regulation and juris humani. [These principles are of great importance, but the trouble has been that “ecclesiastical regulation” exalted itself to such a degree as to assert for its creatures the jus Divinum.—R.]
f. The equipment for and in this office is the work of the Holy Ghost, who vouchsafes the “revelation” (Eph_3:3), in whom the mystery is revealed (Eph_3:5), who furnishes the necessary “knowledge” (Eph_3:4).
g. Oral preaching and the Holy Scriptures belong together (“ye have heard,” Eph_3:2; “when ye read,” Eph_3:4) in the Apostle’s method, just as the congregation should hear and read, both in public and in private.
h. This office lays claim to the person of the minister, not merely to his strength and his time; the office is not conferred upon him just as he is; it does not make demands upon him merely when an official discharge of duty is concerned. Hence the Apostle says: “I became” (Eph_3:7), “the grace to God which was given to me (Eph_3:2; Eph_3:7-8)” according to the working of his power (Eph_3:7), so that he who is “less than the least” (Eph_3:8) has still “boldness” and “access with confidence” (Eph_3:12). [Comp. here the note of Eadie, p. 231, from Baxter’s Reformed Pastor.—
3. As regards Revelation, Paul only declares, that it was actually the possession of himself and the Apostles (Eph_3:3; Eph_3:5). We find moreover at the same time an expression of the necessity of revelation: “the mystery” would never have become “the gospel,” had the Apostles been wanting in that understanding and clearness necessary to preach and explain the mystery. Evidently the personal intercourse of the Apostles with the Lord was not sufficient for this purpose, they needed the revealing Spirit, just as Paul required the appearance of the Lord. Nothing is said respecting the mode of revelation in the Apostles, except that it did not consist in a single act, but in a continuous one, which could have its pauses and its ebbings, but never ceased entirely. In the church however, it is plainly stated (Eph_3:6), the revelation respecting the “mystery” is mediated “through the gospel,” and is therefore joined with the words of the preached gospel.
4. Hence there results the duty of the private Christian, neither to absent himself from the common public service, so that he may hear, nor to neglect private closet worship, so as to read. Upon this is based the obligation of the church to circulate the Scriptures through the agency of Bible Societies, and the crime of the Roman pontiff in forbidding and hindering this.32 “The old complaint continues still: sed nos non habemus aures, sicût Deus linguam (Stier).
5. The difference in the Holy Scriptures. Old and New Testament, are defined in Eph_3:5, very much according to the saying of Augustine; et in vetere novum latet, et in novo vetus patet. Both treat of the “mystery,” which is the purport of the gospel, as it was the subject of prophecy. The difference is only in clearness respecting this; the former lacks it, the latter possesses it. In the former the full universal idea of the gospel lies hidden, as, in a bud, in enigmatical visions and figures. The hope of the Old Testament prophets had not that clearness of understanding which belongs to the New Testament Apostles and congregations, but the intensity of the consciousness of salvation and of the sense of God’s mercy was not less then than afterwards, hence not less perfect in itself, only less distinct in form and expression; so that we may in the light of the gospel and the adult church understand the prophets of the Old Testament better than they did themselves, and yet be not more perfect than they. Hence we can only say with Jerome: aliud est in spiritu ventura cognoscere, aliud ea cernere opera completa, or with Calovius: distinguendum inter cognitionem generalem et specialem. The contrast of the Old and New Testament is not under discussion, as Harless remarks, but that bestowal of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, which introduced them into the entire already existing truth of redemption, and which was accordingly something actually different from the previous inspiration.
6. Carefully as the Apostle demands the reading of what he has written (ver 4; “while reading,” etc.), he yet places it before them as a measure and norm (“in accordance with which”). The preached word, when written, became yet more objective and permanent, as a genuine expression of the truth, accomplished by the clarifying reflection of the collected spirit (comp. Petersen, Idee der Christlichen Kirche, 2, p. 181 ff.). The propositions: it is true, because it is in the Scriptures, and it is in the Scriptures because it is true, supplement each other.
7. The Church is to be conceived of as a communion rising above the limits of time and of the history of humanity on the earth; it reaches into eternity. But it is also to be regarded as a sphere of the operations of God and of the revelation of His glory, which has a significance, not merely terrestrial but cosmical: a place of the revelation of the Lord, which is the high school of angels (Eph_3:10); we are not indeed the professors at whose feet the angels must sit as scholars, but it is God who leads them onward in the knowledge of His wisdom; we are but the means of instruction. They attend the work of Redemption from the beginning: Mat_1:20; Mat_2:13; Mat_2:19; Luk_1:11; Luk_1:26 ff.; Luk_2:9 ff. Mat_4:11; Luk_22:43; Mat_28:2 ff. 1Ti_3:16.
8. Creation and Redemption stand in internal connection (Eph_3:9); the former was not willed by God without the latter, and is arranged and ordered with reference to it.
9. The strength of the consciousness of sin (Eph_3:8) is here intensified by means of the contrast with the high office; it is not conditioned by special and peculiar sin, but by his especially clear and profound self-knowledge in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which it was his duty to preach. Harless: “Into the inmost depths of the soul each one sees only for himself; what he sees in himself, he does not see on others; what he sees there says to him, that sin dwells in him (Rom_7:17) and that the wrath of God is upon him, and that now when God’s grace has saved him, he has nothing which he has not received (1Co_4:7); the hearts of others are searched not by him, but by God.” It cannot be affirmed, then, to be a constantly recurring phenomenon, that the most powerful witnesses to Christian truth have been led there through previous and great errors and wanderings; it is however true that such must have obtained a deeper knowledge and experience of corruption in their own hearts, passing through hard and humiliating struggles. Conversion in their case is no greater act of God’s grace than in that of others; they feel it as such, however, more vividly and overwhelmingly: Has the Lord helped me, then I know not whom He is unable and unwilling to help!
10. The ground-tone of the Christian is “boldness” (Eph_3:12), which has a two-fold reference: 1) backwards to the accusing guilt and forwards to the exalted goal; 2) downwards to the threatening world and upwards to the Ever-Present One. In the first aspect this “boldness” is fearless and undoubting confidence, that sin is forgiven, its power broken, and its eradication assured, according to the promise; in the other it is the joyful assurance of the favor and nearness of God, which cannot be disturbed by circumstances the most adverse.—Hence with this “boldness” is joined “the access in confidence” to the throne of the Most High, in the prayer, certain of a hearing, to be preserved in grace and mercy, and to obtain help against the evil without us and the sin within us. [Or taking the other view of the passage, such “boldness and access” possessed “in confidence” so exalts, that he who suffers comforts those who sympathize; the sympathy of Christ not only rises above human sympathy in consoling power, but makes the sufferer able to remove in turn the reflected sorrow in the hearts of sympathizing friends.—R.]
11. Concerning faith it is only stated here, that it is the medium of the blessed condition of the child of God (Eph_3:12 : “through our faith in Him”); it alone gives a courageous spirit, constancy and joyous confidence; without it “we have” none of these.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
That is an elevating sight—a man who has overcome sorrow and compelled it to grant him joy, strength, comfort, as a star in the night joyously twinkles for the traveller. It is sad enough, when a man, an heir of eternal life, a child of a Heavenly Father, permits himself to be overcome by sorrow and cast forth like a faded leaf from the tree, to be trodden under foot, instead of affording shade.—The cause of sorrow was to Paul a cause of joy: on account of the Gentiles, to whom he preached the gospel, he was persecuted, and this persecution turned out for their advantage.—Paul was like a sword in the contest against error and falsehood and godlessness; life was the workshop, God the Lord was the master, who formed it, but suffering was the anvil and hammer, by means of which it became solid and sharp; and that was good for the church.—That sufferer is right and sets God right before others, who is like a farmer, that knows the bright sky is ever behind the cloud of sorrow, and finds in streaming rain a blessing from above, and thus praises and thankfully accepts what city folks call “bad weather.”—See to it that you know what gifts are given to you and for what. For in this is the task which you have to do; are you uncertain whether others have rightly profited by you, still be certain of this, that you have done your duty.—Joy in the ministerial office must be greater than the sorrow over the injuries which accompany it. Your calling among men is a gift of God to you and you should be a blessing of God to others.—God does not bestow His gifts of grace perfect and complete out of heaven, as one hangs up a picture in his room; but He produces them in our lives, like a harvest, for while the field is prepared, the seed sown and harrowed in, and sunshine and rain, day and night are ordained.
The Scriptures lay claim to be heard on one matter alone. God’s everlasting mercy in Jesus Christ: Is that of importance to you, then the Bible is also: only there is this made clear to you.—About what is spiritual, Divine, eternal, you find no such information anywhere else, whether among the Greeks or the Germans or the English, as in the prophets and Apostles of Jesus Christ; they are greater than all the world’s philosophers and poets.—It is wonderful how the mystery of Christ, the theme of the symphony of the Holy Scriptures gradually passes from the faint twilight through the gray morning of the prophets to the bright day in the birth and death of Jesus Christ, and the church, like a Memnon-statue, give a clear note in the beams of the rising sun.—“In a few lines!” often enough a mere phrase. Not so here: the rich contents, the deep insight, the pleasure in the communication, the love to the Church—all these conspire to make what is written brief, all too brief. Here the preacher may learn: much matter, few words!—Hear in the congregation, read in the closet! Walk in the Spirit and search in the Scriptures! Shun not solitude, but seek God there! These are three exhortations and three rules for the growth of the inner man.—If you do not consider yourself worse than others, you have not yet known yourself or God.—You should not lose joy or power in your calling, when you recognize in humility your own insignificance, the office is ever greater than its incumbent and rather holds him than he it.—He who with the microscope of God’s word, honestly searches and knows his own heart and life, will have in the same word, a telescope to help his gaze toward the furthest heaven, the world of angels and the life eternal, in blissful gratitude.
Starke:—Papal Rome and what belongs thereto is as cruel as heathen Rome was, since it arrests and imprisons so many real Christians.—Let no one run into the important office of the preacher, unless God has sent him there.—Reason knows nothing of the mystery of Christ; it is a revelation from God.—God did not at once make known the secrets of His will in all their extent and present distinctness, but it pleased the Divine Wisdom to proceed therein gradually.—Each book of the Bible is like a jewel in a golden crown; Paul’s Epistles, however, have this excellence, that they lead more richly, powerfully and emphatically to Christ. Hence we must use them like daily bread for the nourishment of our souls. Happy are they who in such a perusal can say: the longer, the dearer!—The calling of the Gentiles remains full of mysteries, for thus God has shown His grace, power and truth.—Why should he who is endowed with office and gifts in Christ’s Church exalt himself? He is what he is, and has what he has, not of merit, but all of grace.—The gospel has to do with the unsearchable riches of Christ: away with all else from the pulpit, such as mere human science, pleasant stories, fables, etc.—Learn also, O my soul, with the angels the manifold wisdom of God; learn it in the church, and watch how wonderfully God has gathered, called, upheld and protected it; learn it in thyself, and notice how wondrously He has led thee through this world.—Those teachers should be ashamed who attempt to force from the flock with knocks and scoldings, what would be so much better gained by more winning ways, by requests and entreaties.—When faithful shepherds have weak and timid sheep they must strengthen them with the consolations of the word of God and thus instil courage,—The tribulations of its teachers are no disgrace to the Church, but honor and glorious strengthening. For the power of the Spirit and of the truth manifests itself most gloriously, when on this account one is willing to suffer also.
Rieger:—The chain and the soldier, with which and to whom Paul was bound made him the prisoner of the Emperor, but the willingness of spirit with which these bonds were borne was from Jesus Christ; hence he was “the prisoner of Christ Jesus,” who also was near him and had an oversight of all that occurred to him. To know and make known God in His unsearchable love is more than to investigate all the works of His hands.—God will not give up His right as Creator, His purpose, which he had in the foundation of the world, with respect to the Kingdom of His Son, but through Redemption will save the Creation, and restore it to its original goodness.—How greatly is the manifold wisdom of God made known through the Church, in the gathering of it from all tribes and tongues, in the adorning of it with so many and varied gifts, in overruling all events for its good, in enduring so many tares, in the unfailing fulfilment of all the declarations of God.
Heubner:—Every one has a criterion of his Christian knowledge, in his proper perception of the purpose of God in Christ and the indispensableness of Christ. In our day this is often willingly changed. Many would make of Christianity, something local, temporal, and thus degrade it.—Christ is inexhaustible for mind and heart; we find all in Him. If we would speak of Him, the theme is never exhausted. Let us never make of this rich Christ a poor one!—What Christ has instituted must truly be something transcendent, and not so common that every intellect can discover it; else the angels would not be able to look into it and be satisfied therewith.
Passavant:—Paul will not speak or teach from his own wisdom or his own inspirations; he will not give or recommend any thing, that is from his own thought or mind or will; at this he trembles, against this his whole conduct and life in the service of his Lord speaks. Nor will he speak a single word of any wise or learned one of this world, any birth or abortion of their little brain and great conceit; as little will he borrow from their idle word.—Divinely great was the light, which appeared, on so many pages of the Psalms and Prophets, respecting the calling of the Gentiles; yet even to the Old Testament seers themselves this, like many other things in the future universal economy of salvation, remained largely in the dark; much both in general and in particular was still concealed. Still less than they, did the people to whom they prophesied, perceive this mystery. Besides this, up to the times of Christ and afterwards, the view of most of them was disturbed by their inborn enmity and profound contempt for the Gentiles.—Among these “holy Apostles and prophets” none seem to have viewed the mystery of Christ with so clear, profound and quick a glance as did the Apostle Paul—The great Apostle knows nothing save grace, will know nothing save grace.—The richer my life, my experience, my knowledge of grace, the richer the gifts, the joys, the richer my eternity, the nearer to the eternal building of God, so much the less can I understand it all, so much more deep and unfathomable are these depths.—“The highest of sciences is Christianity!” says a friend of God; “little as Christians devote their attention and study to it! the highest, most enlightened of the angels have made it their study, and learn from it to perceive God in a manner worthy of Him; and those, for whom such a master-piece is wrought, do not know it nor deem it worth their knowledge.” Others, on the contrary, search therein in an ungodly spirit alone, their wit will guess everything, their intellect explain all, even arrange all; will blame and criticise, will approve and deny, will break up and break off,—and the powers on high in eternal light wait patiently, until light and knowledge comes to them respecting these things.
Stier:—The bonds themselves preach to the Gentiles; they reveal even to the Apostle himself something new.—The reading for one’s self is pre-supposed and recommended in the case of each individual.—Missions are the continued, God-given, gracious and spiritual life of the church, her impulse of growth. They re-act as powerfully, widely and thoroughly as the preaching of the gospel on the church of the baptized, since from them we first learned the idea of the Inner Mission, or as the English say still more beautifully: Home Missions.
Ziel (on Eph_3:8-21):—The Apostle Paul was a rich man in his prison: 1. Rich in the unsearchable riches of Christ, to the proclamation of which the grace of God had called him (Eph_3:8-12); 2. Rich in his fervent love to the brethren, which revealed itself in his supplication for them (Eph_3:13-19); 3. Rich in his unswerving confidence in God, who can do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, and with whose praise he is full (Eph_3:20-21).
[Eadie:
Eph_3:8. The riches of Christ are the true wealth of men and nations. And those riches are unsearchable. Even the value of the portion already possessed cannot be told by any symbols of numeration, for such riches can have no adequate exponent or representative. The latest periods of time shall find those riches unimpaired, and eternity shall behold the same wealth neither worn by use nor dimmed by age, nor yet diminished by the myriads of its happy participants.
Eph_3:9. If we gaze upon a landscape as the rising sun strikes successive points and brings them into view in every variety of tint and shade, both subjective and objective illumination is enjoyed. No wonder that in so many languages light is the emblem of knowledge.—At the fittest time, not prematurely, but with leisurely exactness, were created both the human materials on which redemption was to work that peculiar and varied mechanism by which its designs were to be accomplished.
Eph_3:10. In the proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles, with its strange preparations, various agencies and stupendous effects—involving the origination and extinction of Judaism, the incarnation and the atonement, the manger and the cross, the spread of the Greek language and the triumph of the Roman arms—“these principalities and powers in heavenly places” beheld with rapture other and brighter phases of a wisdom which had often dazzled them by its brilliant and profuse versatility, and surprised and entranced them by the infinite fulness of the love which prompts it, and of the power which itself directs and controls.
Eph_3:11. In all this procedure, which reveals to princedoms and powers God’s manifold wisdom, the Divine eternal plan is consistently and systematically developed in Christ.—R.]
[Hodge:—“Through faith of him.” How may I come to God with the assurance of acceptance? The answer given by the Apostle, and confirmed by the experience of the saints of all ages, is, ‘By faith in Jesus Christ.’ It is because men rely on some other means of access, either bringing some worthless bribe in their hands, or trusting to some other mediator, priestly or saintly, that so many fail who seek to enter God’s presence.—R.]
[Schenkel:—It is a grace to be able to suffer for the sake of the kingdom of God and the advantage of our brethren: for thus to suffer is a blessing 1) for one’s own heart, 2) for the church.—The glory of the Apostolic office: 1. As to its ground, resting on Revelation 2. As to its end, to effect a knowledge of the mystery of God.—The preaching of the gospel: 1) As to its purport, it is about the unsearchable riches of Christ; 2) As to its end, the enlightening of a darkened world.—The Christian Church, the bond which links heaven with earth.—R.]
Footnotes:
[1]Eph_3:1.—[ Ἰησοῦ is omitted in א1 D. 1 F.; it is bracketted by Alford. The order in A. B. C. D. 23 K. L. is Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, so the corrector in א. For the inverted order of the E. V., there is no authority.—R.]
[2]Eph_3:3.—א. A. B. C. D. and others [many cursives, most versions, including the Syriac and Vulgate] read ἐγνωρίσθη; the internal grounds (Stier notices the agreement with Eph_1:9, the distinct reference to the Trinity, the great probability of an alteration from Eph_3:5) are not stronger than the external. [The reading of the Rec. (ἐγνώρισε) supported by D.³ K. L., and some minor authorities, is considered an explanatory gloss by most modern editors.—R.]
[3]Eph_3:4.—[This verse must be thus recast to conform to the exegesis of Dr. Braune, which agrees exactly with that of Ellicott, Alford and others.—R.]
[4]Eph_3:5.—[The preposition ἐν is an explanatory interpolation, having no uncial support, rejected by all modern editors.—R.]
[5]Eph_3:5.—[The Greek aorist is joined with νῦν, but in English we cannot say: as it was now revealed. Since now is emphatic, we must adopt the English perfect, as indeed is frequently necessary.—R.]
[6]Eph_3:6.—[The Rec. inserts αὐτοῦ. It is rejected by most modern editors, since the more important MSS. (א. A. B. C. D.¹) with a number of minor authorities are against it.—On are instead of should be, see Exeg. Notes. The words fellow-heirs, fellow-members, fellow-partakers, are analogous to the unusual Greek compounds, seemingly coined by the Apostle. Tischendorf (on the authority of some of the best MSS., (א. A. B.¹ and others in the various instances) adopts the forms: συ ν κληρ., σύ ν σω., συ ν μέτ., instead of the more euphonic and usual forms. So Ellicott.—R.]
[7]Eph_3:6.—[Modern editors generally accept Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ (א. A. B. C., cursives and versions) instead of τῷ Χριστῷ (Rec., D. E. F. G. K. L.; most cursives)—R.]
[8]Eph_3:7.—The reading ἐγενήθην is found in א. A. B. D.1 F. G. and others; ἐγενόμην [Rec., C. D.3 K. L.] being the more usual form, was likely to creep in.
[9]Eph_3:7.—[The Rec. has: τὴν δοθεῖσαν, on the authority of D.3 K. L., most cursives, many versions and fathers; adopted by Tischendorf, Meyer, Braune. The genitive:τῆς δοθεῖσης is found in א. A. B. C. D. 1 F. G., 10 cursives and a few versions; adopted by Lachmann, Rückert, Alford, Ellicott and most later critics. The latter is better sustained; the presence of the genitive in Eph_3:2 casts a doubt on it, but to my mind not sufficient to warrant adopting the accusative.—The longer form substituted above brings out better the connection between given and what follows.—R.]
[10]Eph_3:8.—[Rec. inserts ἐν before τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, on the authority of D. F. K. L., most cursives, versions and fathers; retained by Ellicott and Eadie. The suspicion of an alteration from Gal_1:16 (a parallel passage) is very great, and as its omission, supported by א. A. B. C., presents a lectio difficilior, it is rejected by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer, Alford, Braune and others.—The Rec. also inserts τῶν after πάντων against all our manuscript authority.—The rendering: to preach is more literal, conforms better with the sense of the aorist: was given, as well as with the infinite construction retained in Eph_3:9.—R.]
[11]Eph_3:9.—[The reading κοινωνία (Rec.) instead of οἰκονομία (א. A. B. C. D. F. K. L.) is an explanatory gloss, supported by no important authority and rejected by all critical editors.—ΙΙάντας is omitted in A. א.1 (afterwards added). Men need not be supplied, since the personal reference is not marked—א. (with a few minor authorities) omits ἐν after τῷ θεῷ.—R.]
[12]Eph_3:9.—[The longer reading of the Rec. is supported by D.³ K. L., a number of cursives, and a few fathers; διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ is omitted in א. A. B. C. D.¹ F. G., a few cursives, the best versions and many fathers. It is therefore rightly rejected by critical editors.—R.]
[13]Eph_3:12.—[The second τήν is omitted in א. A. B. (rejected by Lachmann, Rückert, bracketted by Alford); but nearly all cursives and fathers support it, together with א.3 C. D. F. G. K. L. (though with some variations in position); accepted by Tischendorf, Meyer, Ellicott and most.—R.]
[14]Eph_3:12.—[This emendation gives the correct sense better than the literal but harsh and equivocal rendering of the E. V.—R.]
[15]Eph_3:13.—[Dr. Braune’s exegesis requires the following rendering: Wherefore I pray (God) that (I) faint not,” etc. See Exeg. Notes.—The Rec. has ἐκκακεῖν, with C. D. 3 F. K. L. Ellicott (with A. B. 1 D.1 E.) ἐνκακεῖν. while most editors accept the form ἐγκακεῖν (א. B.2). Comp. my Textual Notes on Gal_6:9. Meyer does not accept the view that the first named is a doubtful word, but thinks it was in oral use and first introduced into writing by Paul; the other reading being an attempt at improvement. He is almost alone in this opinion.—R.]
[16][According to the usual view, Eph_3:14 is a resumption of Eph_3:1, all that intervenes being a digression. Dr. Braune takes another view of the construction (see his note at the close of Eph_3:1), but is forced to accept a connection of thought which amounts to the same thing.—R.]
[17][Χριστοῦ standing first perhaps implies that it was the Messiahship of Jesus which caused his imprisonment (Alford).—R.]
[18][It was indeed the fact that he was a prisoner on account of the Gentiles, out this is not the prominent thought here. Hence Eadie may or may not he correct in saying: “In writing to the Ephesians he could not forget that the suspicion of his having taken an Ephesian named Trophimus into the temple with him, created the popular disturbance that led to his capture and his final appeal to Cæsar, his journey to Rome, and his imprisonment in the imperial city.”—R.]
[19][This seems to be one of those cases where the Greek aorist is properly rendered by the English perfect.—R.]
[20][Alford refers it to Eph_1:9 ff., Eadie to Eph_2:13-22; Hodge and Ellicott accept the wider reference. The last author refers καθώς to the fact that the mystery was made known to the Apostle, not to the manner in which it was made known, but Braune’s view seems preferable.—R.]
[21][The aorist infinitive, according to Donaldson (Grammar, § 427, 8) “describes a single act either as the completion or as the commencement of a continuity.” Hence Alford says that here “the act is regarded as one of a series, each of which, when it occurs, is sudden and transitory.” Comp. Ellicott in loco, who does not press the aorist here; and Winer, p. 313, where the idiomatic use of the aorist infinitive after δύναμαι is mentioned. The view of Braune is in any case allowable.—R.]
[22][So Alford, Ellicott and others. Eadie prefers to take the genitive as one of the object, but Braune does so, and yet reaches Meyer’s explanation. In any case “the mystery” here refers to the whole wonderful scheme or purpose of Redemption in Christ, of which He is Himself the centre. See note on Eph_3:3.—R.]
[23][This is a mistake borrowed from De Wette. See Alford in loco. This view of the connection is that of Koppe and Holzhausen. It is admissible enough grammatically, but why define “prophets” by so self-evident a qualification, or distinguish them thus from “apostles;” for the adjective “holy” must then be limited to the latter term.—That the two terms “apostles” and “prophets” refer to the same persons can scarcely be accepted; see on Eph_2:20.—R.]
[24][According to Buttmann (Lexic. under the word διάκτορος) this word is derived from διάκω. or διήκω, to hasten. The Ionic form is διήκονος, and the α is long, hence it is not a compound with διά. Ellicott refers to Beufey, Wurzellexicon for remoter difficulties.—R.]
[25][Alford: “Not merely externally to teach, referred to his work—but internally to enlighten the hearers, referred to their apprehension” Hodge takes the verb as equivalent to “teach;” Eadie is much better.—R.]
[26][The correct reading takes away the only support which this view could have from text or context.—R.]
[27][A reference to both classes is excluded “not so much by ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, as by the general tenor of the passage; evil angels more naturally recognize the power, good angels the wisdom of God” (Ellicott).—R.]
[28][Alford supports the sense: “constituted,” urging that Paul would have used a more definite verb to express the idea of executing the purpose, and further that the aorist seems to point back to a definite act of origination, while the perfect would better express the continued execution. The latter remark has some force, but does not outweigh the arguments supporting the other sense: (1) That the name of “Jesus,” the historical Saviour, follows immediately; (2) that the next verse is an explanatory confirmation of the accomplished, not the purposed design (Meyer). It may be added that this meaning is more common in the New Testament (Eph_2:3; Mat_21:31; Joh_6:38; 1Th_5:24 and I elsewhere) than the other, which occurs only in Mar_15:1; Rev_17:17 (not Act_17:17, as Braune has it in the German, repeating a typographical error, which has been allowed to remain in several editions of Meyer). Notwithstanding Winer’s distinction, in neither case do we find the middle. Ellicott properly renders the verb: wrought, instead of using the too definite “fulfilled.” In support of Braune’s view, the following names may be mentioned: Theodoret, Grotius, Olshausen, De Wette, Meyer, Conybeare, Ellicott, Hodge, Eadie.—R.]
[29][Dr. Braune there refers to the mistaken conception of the term arising from one of those etymological jumbles so common in all languages. The sense is Freimüthigkeit; Luther however rendered it Freydigkeit, Freidigkeit (derived from frei, free). This was soon confounded with Freudigkeit freudig, joyful); a sense which has influenced English commentators as well. The joyous element is present indeed, but not so prominent as this mistake has made it.—R.]
[30][Ellicott clings to the transitive meaning here also, though admitting some uncertainty in regard to it. The union with “boldness” requires the transitive sense. “We may confidently say, that so important an objective truth as our introduction to God by Christ would never have been thus coupled to a mere subjective quality in ourselves” (Alford). Still it is not so purely subjective as “boldness.”—R.]
[31][Hodge: “You could no more appoint a man an Apostle, than you could appoint him a saint. Neither inspiration nor holiness come by appointment. An Apostle without inspiration is as much a solecism as a saint without holiness. Rome, here as everywhere, retains the semblance without the reality, the form without the power. She has Apostles without inspiration, the office without the grace of which the office was but the expression. Thus she feeds herself and her children upon ashes.”—R.]
[32][Bayne (from Eadie) on Eph_3:4 : “Here he confuteth the papists, on account of their cursed practice in taking away the key of knowledge—the reading of the Scriptures; in which fact they are like the Philistines, putting out the eyes of Samson, and taking away the smiths, not leaving a weapon in Israel.”—R.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. This blessed renovation was under Paul’s Gentile apostleship,…
3. This blessed renovation was under Paul’s Gentile apostleship, instrumentally, Eph_3:1-13.
1. For—Paul began his letter with the broad, universal elect, chap. 1; he next narrows to his Ephesian converts, chap. 2; and now, chap. 3, he comes to a point in his own Ego. At this point he starts with fervent prayer in their behalf; but the mention of his apostleship carries him out into a full expatiation of thirteen verses upon that glorious office; and when that excursion is finished, the actual record of his prayer begins at the fourteenth verse.
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For this cause—In view of your blessed transition from heathenism to Christ, as pictured in the last paragraph.
I Paul—And doubtless no human name so thrilled their hearts at the utterance as this I Paul. It is uttered in the majestic style of their apostle, who, however humble in himself, is authoritative in his divine office.
Prisoner… Christ— Not Cesar’s, but literally Christ’s prisoner. In every phase of life he is Christ’s.
The reader, casting his eye down to Eph_3:14, will there find for this cause resumed, and the apostolic prayer offered. But here, starting at this point from the word Gentiles, Paul first states the call of the Gentiles, Eph_3:2-6; next, his own divine commission as their apostle, 7-9; and last, what the mission imports, 10-12.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain Ch. Eph_3:1-13. He would pursue the subject of the…
Ch. Eph_3:1-13. He would pursue the subject of the Temple, but digresses to say more of the world-wide scope of the Gospel
For this cause] With such a present and such a future for my reason, motive, hope. Here begins a sentence broken immediately by a great digression. Where is it resumed? At Eph_3:8, or at Eph_3:13, or at Eph_3:14? On the whole we decide for the latter, not only because the identical phrase “for this cause” recurs there, but because the thought of the Indweller, and the Foundation (“grounded,” Eph_3:17), recurs there also. It is thus as if the Apostle had been just about to pray that the great Lord of the Temple might take a new (an ever new) possession of the Edifice preparing for Him; but had been diverted, by the designation he gives himself, to speak at large of his Gentile commission. For a parenthesis on the like scale see the latter half of Romans 5. Such deviations into side-fields of pregnant thought are characteristic of some minds of high calibre; and we are never to forget that while it is everywhere the Inspirer who speaks through the Apostle, He as truly uses the Apostle’s type of mind as He uses the Greek type of language to be His perfect vehicle of expression.
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I Paul] For a similar emphatic Ego, cp. 2Co_10:1; Gal_5:2; Col_1:23; Phm_1:19. (1Th_2:18 is not quite in point, nor the passages, Col_4:18; 2Th_3:17; where he speaks of his autograph name.) The motive here seems to be the profound personal interest of the Apostle in his great commission, brought to the surface by the statement he has just made of the grandeur of its issue in the completion of the Temple of the Universal Church. “It is I, positively I, who am, wonderful to say, chief minister in the process.” And there may also be the emphasis of intense personal interest in the Ephesian converts; a loving pressure, so to speak, of his personality upon theirs.—On the “self-consciousness” of St Paul, see Howson, Character of St Paul, Lect. II.
the prisoner of Jesus Christ] So Phm_1:1; Phm_1:9; 2Ti_1:8; and below, Eph_4:1, with an interesting difference, which see. Our Epistle thus stands grouped with Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, 2 Timothy, as an Epistle written from prison.—“Of Jesus Christ”:—under all aspects of life Paul belongs to Christ. Whatever he is, does, or suffers, it is as Christ’s property. There is also an obvious reference to the fact that his imprisonment was for Christ’s cause; but this is not all.
for you] On behalf of you. See Act_22:21 for illustration. His imprisonment, due to Jewish hostility, was thus ultimately due to his assertion of the free welcome of the Gentiles to Messiah’s covenant. Acts 15 records the crisis within the Church which corresponded to this assault from without.
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Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) For this cause . . .—After much discussion…
(1) For this cause . . .—After much discussion of the construction of this verse, there seems little doubt that the nominative, “I, Paul,” must be carried on beyond the digression upon the mystery of the gospel, and his part in ministering it, which follows. The only question which can well be raised is whether the resumption takes place at Eph_3:13, “I desire that ye faint not;” or at Eph_3:14, “I bow my knees;” and this seems decided for the latter alternative, both by the emphatic repetition of “for this cause,” and by the far greater weight and finality of the latter sentence.
The prisoner of Jesus Christ.—The phrase (repeated in Eph_4:1; Phm_1:9; 2Ti_1:8) is dwelt upon with an emphasis, explained by St. Paul’s conviction that “his bonds” tended to “the furtherance of the gospel”—not merely by exciting a sympathy which might open the heart to his words, but even more (see Php_1:13-14) by showing the victorious power of God’s word and grace—which “is not bound”—to triumph over captivity and the danger of death. The expression itself is notable. When St. Paul calls himself the “prisoner of Jesus Christ,” he represents our Lord’s own will, as ordaining his captivity for His own transcendent purposes of good, making him an “ambassador in chains” (Eph_6:20), and these “the bonds of the gospel.” (See Phm_1:13; and Act_28:20, “For the hope of Israel I am bound in this chain.”) Hence in this passage St. Paul seems to speak of his captivity as a special proof of the reality of his mission, and a new step in its progress; and appeals to it accordingly, just as in the final salutation of the Colossian Epistle, “Remember my bonds.” The whole idea is a striking instance of the spiritual alchemy of faith, turning all things to good—not unlike the magnificent passage (in 2Co_11:23-30) of his “glorying in his infirmities.”
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For you Gentiles.—This was literally true of the origin of his captivity, proceeding as it did from the jealousy of the Jews, excited by the free admission of the Gentiles to the Church; but the reference is not to be limited to this. St. Paul regards the captivity as only one incident in a mission sending him entirely to the Gentiles (Act_21:21; Rom_11:13; Gal_2:9). From these words the digression of Eph_3:2-13 starts, bringing out the reality and greatness of that mission.
(1) Eph_3:1-13 contain two subjects closely blended together. The first (carrying on what is implied in the contrast drawn out in Ephesians 2) is the absolute newness of this dispensation to the Gentiles—a mystery hidden from the beginning in God, but now at last revealed. The second, an emphatic claim for St. Paul himself, “less than the least” although he is, of a special apostleship to the Gentiles, proclaiming this mystery by word and deed.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 1-13. DIGRESSION ON THE ADMISSION OF THE GENTILES…
Vers. 1-13. DIGRESSION ON THE ADMISSION OF THE GENTILES TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
For this cause. The reference is not merely to the last statement or illustration, but to the whole view of the purpose of God toward the Gentiles unfolded in Ephesians it. The apodosis does not come in till ver. 14, at the beginning of which this conjunctive clause is repeated. I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles. He introduces himself in order to make known the feelings which were roused in his soul towards them by the consideration of the privileges just enlarged on especially to acquaint them with the prayers he offered for them (see vers. 14-19), and apparently with the indirect object of getting them to offer similar prayers for themselves. To justify this introduction of himself, he delicately introduces the fact of his being a prisoner on their behalf. What had brought him to Rome, what had made him appeal to Caesar, was his preaching the gospel to the Gentiles; indeed, the immediate occasion of his arrest at Jerusalem was the suspicion that he had taken Trophimus, an Ephesian, one of themselves, into the temple. (Act_21:29) By this allusion to the condition into which his regard for them had brought him, be conciliates sympathetic consideration of what is to follow.
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Vers. 1-13.
God"s purpose as to the Gentiles.
This passage a parenthesis after ver. 1 a reference to Paul"s personal history. It contains the explanation of his whole career, the secret of his wonderful zeal. Why was he a prisoner? Generally, for the Gentiles. Why for them? Because the Divine purpose regarding them had been revealed to him, and through him to the world, and the enmity of the Jews to that purpose had brought Paul into captivity. Looking at the passage as a whole, it may show us how Paul found compensation for his captivity in the privileges connected with his office as apostle of the Gentiles. This compensation lay chiefly in three things.
I The precious insight he obtained into the glory of the Divine purpose in reference to the Gentiles, giving him a high conception of the far-reaching generosity of God.
1. There is a high intellectual pleasure in the discovery of any great truth.
2. A profound emotional pleasure in discovering a truth of vast benefit to mankind.
3. A still higher pleasure in receiving such a truth direct from God. This truth did not involve a case of leveling down, but of leveling up. Though the Jews, as a nation, were no longer to occupy a higher platform than the Gentiles, yet all were to be invited to equal nearness to God, and if any should reject the invitation, the blame and the loss would be all their own.
II The remarkably high qualifications given to him for his office (see ver. 7) great love, faith, courage, perseverance, hope; great intellectual insight; great spiritual power. Others got frightened (Mark, Demas, etc.); Paul went on. The human spirit was often depressed, but God comforted him. The thorn in the side was annoying, but "my grace is sufficient for thee.
III The great honor and privilege of being called to so blessed a work. The work had a glory on earth and a glory in heaven.
1. On earth. He preached to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. He proclaimed his riches of grace, and showed them to be unsearchable. He not only proclaimed them, but in a sense imparted them brought them into contact with the Ephesians, so that they got the good of them, through the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
2. In heaven. The gospel has aspects of blessing beyond this world. It carries important lessons to the principalities and powers. It shows the manifold wisdom of God, shows how all classes and varieties of mankind are brought to God by the cross of Christ, assimilating all characters, overcoming all alienations, demolishing all wails of separation, and building up all together in Christ Jesus. One great conclusion. In every sense the success of the gospel is very glorifying to God; it illustrates his perfections; it glorifies his Son; it educates the very angels; and thus it carries forward the grand purpose of God in the creation of the worlds. "To him be glory forever. Amen.
HOMILIES BY T. CROSKERY. Ver. 1.
The prisoner of Jesus Christ.
The apostle often refers to his prison-life, and here presents himself to the Churches as "an ambassador in bonds". (Eph_6:20)
I HE WAS A MOST CELEBRATED PRISONER. Perhaps he was regarded as of no great account by his Roman jailors, who could have known nothing of the secret of his greatness; but viewed in the light of Christian history, Paul is the most distinguished of men. He did more than any other apostle to shape the theology of Western Christendom, which, in its turn, has left the deepest imprint on the civilization of the world. The world would not be today what it is if Paul of Tarsus had not lived. His influence has long survived the empire of Rome, which held him captive. We sympathize with the prison-sorrows of the great. Alas! that the best of men, "of whom the world was not worthy," have spent so many weary days and years in prison!
II HE WAS NOT A PRISONER FOR CRIME OR FOR THE BREACH OF THE ROMAN LAWS, BUT AS THE EFFECT OF THE UNSLEEPING HATRED OF THE JEWS. It was his ministry to the Gentiles which brought down upon him the vindictive anger of his countrymen, and led them to accuse him before the Roman magistrates. The suspicion that he had taken Trophimus, an Ephesian, into the temple at Jerusalem had, indeed, an immediate connection with his first arrest. "He was at once Christ"s prisoner, the Jews" prisoner, the Romans" prisoner, the Gentiles" prisoner: Christ"s prisoner, as suffering for his gospel; the Jews" prisoner, as suffering by their accusation; the Romans" prisoner, as suffering by their sentence; the Gentiles" prisoner, as suffering for his labor"s unto their salvation." His imprisonment was thus a higher honor than his rapture into the third Heavens.
III HIS IMPRISONMENT HAD ITS PROVIDENTIAL ADVANTAGES. Just as John Huss had leisure during his imprisonment in the fortress on the Rhine to write words that fired the hearts of his countrymen ages after his martyrdom at Constance, and as Martin Luther"s one year"s imprisonment in the Wartburg enabled him to give the Scriptures to Germany in the tongue of the people, so the Apostle Paul was enabled in the leisure of his Roman imprisonment to throw off those beautiful Epistles of the captivity to the Philippians, to the Ephesians, to the Colossians, to Philemon which have s, largely contributed to the edification and comfort of the Church. He still held the threads of a hundred interests in his hands, and felt in his prison at Rome the throbbing of thousands of Christian hearts in all parts of Asia and Europe.
IV PRISON-LIFE IS ALMOST NECESSARILY SAD, BECAUSE OF ITS ISOLATION FROM HUMAN RELATIONS, ITS SOLITUDE, ITS SUSPENSION OF ACTIVE AND ACCUSTOMED LABOR, AND ITS USUALLY HARD CONDITIONS. It must have been a sore trial to the apostle to submit to an enforced inactivity, while the world was everywhere, in so sad a sense, "ripe for the harvest." It would seem as if, at a certain point, the sympathy of Asiatic Christians failed him; (2Ti_1:15) and there was an unaccountable indifference to his wants marking the relations of the Roman Christians themselves, which argued that much was not to be expected from their affection. So his prison-experience must have had its dark moments.
V MARK THE SPIRIT IN WHICH THE APOSTLE LIVED THROUGH THIS PRISON-EXPERIENCE. The solitude of such a life often breeds a morbid spirit, which throws a darker coloring into the thoughts of the prisoner. Yet the Epistles of the captivity breathe a beautiful spirit of Christian courage and resignation, not to speak of absolute rejoicing. Compare the letters of the apostle with those of Cicero, Seneca, and Ovid in their exile, and we see at a glance the different effects of Christianity and paganism upon the happiness of man. As the prisoner of Jesus Christ, he abounded in the consolations of his Divine Master, while he must have been greatly encouraged by the visits of disciples like Epaphroditus, Epaphras, and others, who carried to him the prayers and benefactions of the Churches.
VI WE OUGHT TO REMEMBER PRISONERS IN OUR PRAYERS, AS "BOUND WITH THEM." Most prisoners in our day are in jail for crime, but we ought to remember that they are men, that they are our brothers, that they must feel their separation from wife and children and home as keenly as we should. Perhaps, but for restraining grace, we should have been in their position. But we are bound specially to remember in our prayers those suffering for the cause of Christ, and especially those occupied with great service for the Lord. T.C.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR
Vers. 1-13.
The death of the tribal spirit.
The apostle, having stated the unity between Jews and Gentiles in the one spiritual temple, proceeds in this parenthesis to state the aspect of the gospel which is thus presented. It amounts, in fact, to the death of the tribal feeling, and to the encouragement of that broad cosmopolitanism which has been fostered by the Christian system. Paul, of course, rejoiced in his Jewish origin and in all the privileges which he had thus inherited. But since his conversion unto Christ, the narrowness had disappeared, and he took his stand before the world as the apostle and apologist of the Gentiles, hoping for the same elevation of character for them as for himself.
I LET US NOTICE HOW PAUL WAS PREPARED FOR THIS CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE GENTILES. (Ver. 8.) He had come to entertain a deep humility of spirit. He deemed himself "less than the least of all saints." In Paul"s experience it has been observed there is a progress. First he speaks of himself as "the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God". (1Co_15:9) Secondly, as in this passage before us, he regards himself not only as hardly worthy of the name of an apostle, but as less than the least of all saints. Having ranked all apostles above himself in the first instance, he now ranks all the saints above him. Then, thirdly, he puts himself below all other sinners, and declares, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief". (1Ti_1:15) Now, this expresses a complete revolution in Pharisaic thought. Unquestionably Paul had learned to judge himself severely when he comes to conclusions such as these. Now, Christianity secures this apparent moral paradox of esteeming each the other better than himself. (Php_2:3) "By humility," as A. Monod has said in his "Explication," "the Christian is led to judge himself severely, while charity comes to his aid in making him judge favorably of another. Each one, besides, reading in his own heart and not that of others, perceives only in himself that depth of sin which is the worst aspect of it, although least visible, and he can always hope that with others, whatever the appearances may be, this depth, hidden from his eyes, is better than with him." This personal humiliation, then, is the preparation Paul receives for his great role as elevator of the Gentiles. It is when personally abased that we are exalted in heart and hope, and become the willing servants of mankind.
II PAUL"S ESTIMATE OF HIS OFFICE. (Ver. 8.) It was a "grace" given to him to be allowed by God to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. His notion was that it was the crown and summit of human privilege to be thus placed in charge of such a commission. He magnified his office. He saw nothing to be compared with it in the privileges of men. He would have endorsed the words of a great modern preacher when he declared to students for the ministerial office, "There is no career that can compare with it for a moment in the rich and satisfying relations into which it brings a man with his fellow-men, in the deep and interesting insight which it gives him into human nature, and in the chance of the best culture for his own character.... Let us rejoice with one another that in a world where there are a great many good and happy things for men to do, God has given us the best and happiest, and made us preachers of his truth.
III THE MORAL ELEVATION WHICH THE GOSPEL PROPOSES TO BESTOW UPON THE GENTILES. (Ver. 6.) Up to out Lord"s time the tribal idea prevailed. The Jews were a tribe, and their policy was, as their policy would still be, the supremacy of the tribe. But Christ proposed not to carry the Jewish tribe up to proud supremacy, but, on the contrary, to bring all other tribes up to their level of privilege, and to weld the world"s peoples into one. It was he who first touched the key of cosmopolitan comprehensiveness and bade the narrow tribal spirit to cease. He talked of many coining from east and west to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. (Mat_8:11) He talked of drawing "all men" unto himself once he was lifted on the cross. (Joh_12:32) He spoke of Jerusalem ceasing to be the single center of true worship, and of true worshippers worshipping the Father anywhere. (Joh_4:21-24) All nations were to be discipled by his servants. (Mat_28:20) Into these broad and noble views for mankind the eleven did not very rapidly or fully enter. Doubtless Peter had inaugurated the Gentile Pentecost in the house of Cornelius; but he relapsed into narrowness a few years later at Antioch. It was reserved, therefore, for Paul, the most powerful mind of the apostolic band, to catch the cosmopolitan spirit of his Master, and to champion the Gentile against all the prejudice of the Jewish world. It has been suggested that he would not have chosen the appointment had it been left to himself. But, as far as we can judge, he showed no narrowness once he had humbled himself at Christ"s feet on the way to Damascus. He there ceased to be the patriot of a tribe, and became, in the widest and worthiest sense, a citizen of the world and a champion of the rights of universal man. There is surely something grand in this idea of lifting outcast communities into the highest and holiest associations. There is no casting of contempt on any tribe, but extending pity and. compassion unto all. The golden gate of privilege is opened wide for every one. The missionary enterprise is the best and noblest policy which men have set themselves in earnest to carry through!
IV THE LESSON THUS AFFORDED TO THE HEAVENLY WORLD. (Vers. 10-12.) The idea of Paul is that the angels on high look down with rapt interest and profit upon what is taking place in the Church. The movements of men outside the Church have, of course, their interest; but it is the bringing of the different peoples of the earth into the glorious unity of the Church of God which so strikes the attention of the heavenly world. The Divine society which is gathering round Jesus is the most instructive exhibition of God"s purposes which the heavenly world can contemplate. As Jonathan Edwards put it in his sermon upon ver. 10, the angels are benefited by the salvation of men,
(1) by seeing therein a great and wonderful manifestation of the glory of God;
(2) by Jesus Christ, as God-Man, becoming their Head. We may be sure that the history of the world looks very differently to the immortals from what it does in the pages of mortal history. We see the tramp of armies and of battles upon the graphic page, and an account more or less intelligent of the different and concurrent causes; bat with what fuller insight and appreciation mast the heavenly world look down upon the vicissitudes of time! Amid the conflicting policies of different states and nations, the missionary enterprise appears as the one consistent and uniting policy. The elevation of the world"s peoples into one consecrated whole, into one mighty family, into one organic whole, is surely worthy of a God. And this is what the Church exhibits; it was for this Paul suffered, it is for this we in our respective spheres must struggle too. R.M.E.
HOMILIES BY R. FINLAYSON Vers. 1-13.
Paul"s apostleship to the Gentiles: introduction.
The apostle has it in his mind to pray for the Ephesian Christians. There is a twofold ground upon which he proceeds.
1. What has been said about them. "For this cause." He has described them in three ways as incorporated in the Church. His last statement pointed to their being built in. They were, therefore, objects for intercession, such as their heathen ancestors had not been.
2. His relation to them. He did not stand at an outside, but in the closest relation to them, such as brought with it the obligation on his part to pray for them.
(1) He had a relation, to them through the common Master, being the prisoner of Christ Jesus. "I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus." He was not the only one of whom that could be said, but "Paul the prisoner" was well known to them. Indeed, it was an Ephesian named Trophimus who innocently brought him into trouble. He was the prisoner of Caesar; but who was Caesar but the hand of Christ in the matter? He recognized the fact that it was by Christs will primarily that he was a prisoner. Christ being above Caesar in power, and therefore able to order it otherwise, it was to human appearance strange that a worker like Paul should at this time have been so restricted in his energies. But he who has eyes like unto a flame of fire saw deeper into it than any other could. One good result which flowed from his imprisonment was that he was able to give himself more to composition. See here how there rose before the mind of the prisoner of Christ a glorious conception of his Church, by which there will be greatest benefit to the end of time.
(2) He was the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of them, the Gentiles. "In behalf of you Gentiles." His unbelieving countrymen (who in their spiritual pride were for the exclusion of the Gentiles) had been his bitterest foes, and were, indeed, chargeable (inert than the Roman authorities) with his imprisonment. He was suffering for his liberality in seeking to include them, as was the will of Christ, within the pale of the Church. He might well, then, claim to write to them, as well as be expected to offer prayers on their behalf. But, having mentioned this ground of his praying for them, he goes aside from his prayer, and does not proceed with the sentence which he has commenced until the fourteenth verse, giving us a parenthesis which, for length and weight together, is not surpassed. Transition to the subject of his apostleship. "If so be that ye have heard." Gentiles, for whom he was suffering, could scarcely have been ignorant, whether they had enjoyed his ministrations or not, of the fact of his being apostle of the Gentiles. And if the Ephesian Christians had heard more particularly of the matter of the revelation, as probably they had done, for Paul labored two years among them, yet it would not be inconsistent with usage to say, "If so be that ye have heard," as referring to a well-known fact, and as referring to it in the way of calling them to self-scrutiny as to the time when they heard it and the person from whom they heard it.
I HIS APOSTLESHIP WAS OF DIVINE ARRANGEMENT. "Of the dispensation." It was not of his own ordering, but was the dispensation of God. It was arranged that he should be a minister to preach unto the Gentiles (vers. 7, 8). This is in accordance with his manner of viewing things in the first chapter. He who has the administration of the eons has also the appointment of all who serve in his house, whether ordinary or extraordinary.
II FOR HIS APOSTLESHIP HE WAS FAVORED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF A MYSTERY. "Of that grace of God which was given me to you-ward." He had no reason to look fur such a thing, but with a view to his acting as their apostle he was so favored.
1. It was a mystery which was communicated to him by revelation. "How that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery." tie did not receive it at secondhand, nor was it a discovery of his own; but it was immediately and supernaturally communicated to him. That was guarantee for the knowledge being certain and thorough. The fact revealed to him at Ms conversion, that he was to bear Christ"s Name before the Gentiles, may only have given rise to perplexities as to the mode. We can think of the revelation referred to here as coming to him, not without preparation of reflection on his part, during his retirement in Arabia. And it must have been a great help to him in his perplexities to know confidently and timeously the principles on which God was to proceed with the Gentiles.
2. It was a mystery of his knowledge of which he had already given them evidence. "As I wrote afore in few words." The reference is evidently to this same Epistle, especially to the first chapter, in which it is part of the "mystery" of summing up all things in Christ, that Gentiles are put on an equality with Jews in being made "heirs" on trusting in Christ. It was the mystery of Christ, viz. as the great Reconciler. He had written in brief; but their interest would make up for his brevity, and he claims that, in what he had said, he had given them the opportunity, when they should "read," of perceiving his understanding of the mystery. And thus, through his communication to them of what he had got immediately from God, they would have the satisfaction of seeing for themselves what the truth was.
3. It was a time when others were favored with revelation of the mystery as well as he. "Which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit." "Sons of men" has a certain association of incapacity. Being only sons of men, they could not be expected to know the mystery of themselves. And the former generations of them had stood at a disadvantage. They had not been absolutely excluded from the benefit of revelation. But still, in all that they had been favored with, in promises connected with the admission of the Gentiles, it had remained very much of a mystery, until the then Christian period. And the Apostle Paul, with an evident enthusiasm, thinks of himself as in the company of apostles and prophets, upon whom in that ago the inflatus of the Spirit had come, and who were privileged to make communications of blessed import to the Gentiles.
4. What the contents of the mystery were. "To wit, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fallow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." There is a catching up of a previous thread here, for which we were prepared by his reference to what he had written before. "They were made a heritage." They had the "earnest" of an "inheritance." They were "God"s own possession." There was something new (or matter for revelation) in their thus being fellow-heirs. For this was something beyond the extension of grace to them. It indicated their relation to ancient Israel The Jews (or believers among them) were not the only successors of Israel. But the Gentile believers were served heirs as well. They were in the true theocratic line. The prestige of that people, the great things the Lord had done for them, were theirs. And theirs, too, were even the lessons of their apostasies. Theirs were their Scriptures. "Fellow-members of the body" is also a catching up of a previous thread. For he has before written of the "one body". (Eph_2:16) This had not been clear to the former generations. They had not contemplated such a close commingling of Gentile and Jewish elements. Was there to be no partition wall whatever? Was their identity as Jews completely to be lost? Yes, that was the form that mercy to the Gentiles was to take. And there were they in the Ephesian Church, some of them Jews and some of them Gentiles, but all members of the body of Christ. "And fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." "Fellow-partakers of the promise" is properly the parallel phrase. But there is a reason for connecting the remaining words specially, if not exclusively, with this. For the promise (that is, to former generations) refers to the same blessings offered (since the coming of Christ) in the gospel. There is thus a catching up of a previous thread from the second chapter, where it is said that Christ came and preached the gospel (of peace) to Gentiles as well as to Jews. And there was much for apostles and prophets to reveal of the mystery here. For it was by so completely "filling up" the types, and presenting the real all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, that all former restrictions could be done away. Men no longer needed to be circumcised or to go up to Jerusalem, but could freely participate in the blessings of salvation simply as believing on Christ.
III HIS BEING A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL TO THE GENTILES FILLED HIM WITH A SENSE OF HIS OWN UNWORTHINESS. "Whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles." Paul fakes the lowly title of "minister" (literally, "one who runs at the call of another," but used generally of a servant). He was a servant in a particular order. Grace was given him to preach unto the Gentiles. That was where he found his work, where he was appointed to follow the Master. Anti the gift of this grace (thus defined) was given him in a particular way to the working of his power." "The mention of the power of God is founded on the circumstance that Paul sees in his change of heart, from a foe to a friend of Christ, an act of omnipotence." It is an exercise of power that calls for our adoration. Grander than the flash of the lightning, the roll of the thunder, was the power which turned Saul into Paul, the persecutor into the preacher. It is power which has been exercised after the same example, notably in the case of Bunyan. It is power to which the Church can constantly look for the raising up of men to do its work. It is power to which the greatest sinners may be pointed for their conversion to God. In magnifying the Divine power, Paul humbles himself. But not thus does his feeling of humility (which none need to cultivate more than ministers) find adequate expression. But in view of the greatness of his calling he humbles himself still further. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints." There is employed, to express his meaning, what is both a comparative and a superlative. There was no exaggeration in this to the apostle who, though he could warmly vindicate his apostolic position when there was occasion, yet had a feeling of his own nothingness. (2Co_12:11) It belongs to a shallower Christian experience than his was, to make such comparisons. To one who has felt his own utter vileness before God, to think of instituting a comparison in personal worth, in spiritual standing between himself and his fellow-Christians, is utterly abhorrent to him. He repudiates the thought; he is less than the least of all saints. There can be no doubt that those who have (without feigning) the deepest feeling of humility are really the best saints and the best champions of the faith. It is not the case that a career of wandering such as the apostle had (in his case it was wandering in self-righteousness for thirty years) is necessary to the deepest feeling of humility. For we have all enough of evil in our hearts to lead to humiliation. But it may be said that those who have had such wanderings and subsequent struggles are the most likely (in respect of their opportunity) to excel in a knowledge of the corruption of their hearts. The apostle supplies us with a rich expression here, tell saints." Who are they that form this order? Certainly none of mankind who have not the blood of Christ sprinkled upon them. Certainly more than those who have been specially sainted" of men. They include many "hidden ones" on earth.
But sure from many a hidden dell, From many a rural nook unthought of, there Rises for that proud world the saints" prevailing prayer.
They include the "eider saints" in heaven, both angels and men. They have all their circle of influence in the universe of God. We are to look unto "Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith;" but we are also to get strengthening, incitement, catholicity, from "the communion of saints.
IV THE SUBJECT OF HIS PREACHING TO THE GENTILES WAS THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST. The blessings of the gospel are compared by our Lord to gold: "I counsel thee to buy of me gold." And, in agreement with that, is this description of those blessings as "the unsearchable riches of Christ." There are none higher (as there is nothing higher in metals than gold), and, if we count them as men count gold, they are inestimably precious. What are the blessings of the gospel? There is first of all peace, not the peace of unfallen beings, but the peace of those who Lave been sinners and are now reconciled the sweet sense of sin forgiven, the blessed feeling that the guilt which was resting on us is removed, and that there is now nothing between us and a holy God. And who can tell the preciousness of this blessing? The man who has this peace can feel richer than Croesus. It is a peace which makes us independent of the world, which the world cannot give and which the world cannot take away. It is a peace which passeth all understanding, which has a mysterious, unspeakable sweetness about it, so that he who has once felt what it is would never like to lose it. Another blessing is spiritual understanding. The man who knows is on a different footing from the man who does not know. Think of one who has all the light of modern science, compared with the Chinaman who is only where his ancestors were two or three thousand years ago. Think of one who has all the light which Christianity has shed on the highest matters, compared with the fetishist whose dim object of reverence is some unconscious stone. How dark the world would have been at this day but for the dayspring from on high which hath visited us! But, along with that outward light which shines widely, there is to all who seek and embrace it an inward light of the Holy Ghost. Blind Bartimaeuses, we believe in Christ, and we receive our sight. And what riches it is to have spiritual insight, to have the veil taken off God and truth, to be under no delusion, to be delivered from every error, and to see things clearly in the light of God! A third blessing, but a very comprehensive one, is holy feeling. What a cage of unclean birds does sin make of our hearts! But the gospel introduces a radical change of feeling. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." And is it not golden to have fine feeling feeling in which there is no sinful element, but only the fine grain of holiness; to have devoutest reverence and tenderest love towards God; to have due respect and tender love toward our fellow-men? The man who feels aright all round has his wealth in his soul, there a perpetual feast. These blessings we may regard as summed up in Christ. For as Christ is said not only to have the bread of life, but to be himself the Bread of life, so we may say he has not only unsearchable riches to bestow, but he is himself the unsearchable Riches. He is the true Gold, he is precious in every quality of his being as gold, and, in having him as the Portion of our souls, we must needs have unsearchable riches.
V AN OBJECT AIMED AT BY THE APOSTLE IN HIS PREACHING TO THE GENTILES. "And to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery." He himself understood the mystery, having got it by revelation. And he had given them the means of perceiving his understanding of it, and therefore of understanding it for themselves. But so precious a truth was not to be confined within so narrow an area. He had a certain unbounded ambition in preaching the gospel. It was to make all men see the gracious arrangement which had been newly introduced, and see it so as to be induced to take advantage of it. On another occasion his language was, "That all the Gentiles might hear." In both cases it is the language of enthusiasm. It was the burning desire of his heart, to make all men see, that made him go (not without hardships) from land to land. He was not free to settle down in any one place. When he had established a center of gospel light in Ephesus, he must go elsewhere. The world was a dark place, and he must establish as many centers of light at suitable points in it as God would enable him to establish during his appointed course.
VI A TWOFOLD ULTERIOR OBJECT SERVED BY THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL TO THE GENTILES.
1. More immediately men having demonstrated to them the Divine sovereignty. "Which from all ages hath been hid in God who created all things." It is because he has created all things that he has the disposal of all things. There is nothing whatever which he cannot bend to his will. It was in the exercise of his sovereignty that, at the beginning of the ages, he did not reveal the whole breadth of his purpose. It lay hid in himself. And for ages his ways were dark, in the great majority of men being left to their own natural ignorance and inability. During these ages he rested in his own thoughts regarding men, in his own reasons of procedure, in his own ways of working. But there was mystery. The largeness of his purpose was sovereignly hid under a cloud until, with the coming of Christ and the preaching of the gospel to all men, it clearly burst forth.
2. Angels seeing by the Church the manifold wisdom of God. "To the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." The Church is the community of which, as is said in the first chapter, Christ is the Head. The interest in this community is here represented as extending to the angels. They are here designated on the side of their power and rank as the principalities and the powers. In the hundred and third psalm it is said, "He his angels, that excel in strength." In what relation rank or dominion is ascribed to them, we have not the means of knowing, as we have not the survey of the heavenly world which they, it is here implied, have of the earthly world. But we are to understand the apostle, in the loftiness of his thought, seizing upon this as being to the honor of the Church, that it attracts the attention of the inhabitants of "the heavenly places those who have never known any other habitation, who, from the first moment of their being, have lived in the presence of God. They have been contemporaries of man during all his history. For when the earth was framed "the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy." We are to think of them as witnessing man"s innocence and fall, and as being made acquainted with the introduction of grace in the promise. And the Law (which had a separating side) was by the disposition of angels." And angels very signally heralded the Savior"s birth. But it was not for our sakes alone that they were thus connected with our history. It would seem that, though in the heavenly places, they had but a limited knowledge of redemption. They had not foreknowledge; they had to wait like us for the evolution of events. What was mystery to us (as to the including of the Gentiles) was mystery to them also, being hidden to both in God. They were at a loss to understand what the development of things under the gospel was to be. But they were taught by the events. Now through the Church was made known the manifold wisdom of God. The Church was not to be instructress, but rather material for instruction by God in the subject of his manifold wisdom. There was material to be found elsewhere, in which the angels delighted to study the manifold wisdom of God. It was when the worlds were brought forth into space that they shouted for joy. What a field was that opened up for their contemplation! "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all." The simple idea of a house is that which has walls, and door, and windows, and roof; but into what manifoldness, what richness of structure, may that be drawn out by the creative mind of the architect! An architect"s work is manifold in proportion to the multiplicity of the parts, and to the variety he can introduce into these; and his skill is seen in his combining these parts, in all their multiplicity and variety, into a unity. What multiplicity of parts has God to deal with in the material structure of things! and what variety he introduces, so that no leaf is exactly like another! and how there are not only adaptations which can be made a study of by themselves (as a column, or bit of tracery on it, may be made a study of), but these are comprehended in wider adaptations, and so all-comprehensive is the Divine thought that there is in the result no confusion but the highest simplicity! That is one sphere for the display of manifold wisdom. We may expect greater manifoldness as we rise higher. What a manifoldness in the life of rational beings! "And God," says Leibnitz, "has the qualities of a good Governor as well as of a great Architect." It may be supposed that the angels will first contemplate the manifold wisdom of God in themselves, in their high and varied endowments, in the way in which their eternal well-being has been secured to them without their having to pass through the experience of sin, and in the part assigned to each and to all in the great plan. Is he not called the Lord of hosts, as marshalling the innumerable army of angels? They have a manifoldness far beyond our conception, and yet he can dispose of them as easily as an officer can do with a small section of an army. He calls them, as he calls the stars, by their names; not one is overlooked, not one out of place. The manifold wisdom of God is also to be seen in the way in which the twelve hundred millions of men on the earth are dealt with at one moment. The problem here has been complicated by the entrance of sin. Manifold are the phases of sin, and manifold are the methods by which he seeks to dislodge men out of their sin. But this manifold problem of the world of mankind is mastered by him more easily than the problem of a single household is mastered by us. But it is in the Church that there is to be seen conspicuously the manifold wisdom of God. And, in the first place, it is to he seen in that general point regarding the Church which the apostle has been considering, viz. the including of the Gentiles after they had been so long excluded. It may seem that the exclusion of any from the privileges of the Church was a reflection on the Divine wisdom. Was it not sacrificing their interests that an effort was not made for their salvation along with that of others? But the problem was far more manifold than that. If there had been a comprehension of all nations all along, the result would probably have been the extinction of religion. We are not to think that Christ could have come, and his gospel be promulgated, at any time. If the gospel dispensation had been introduced at the time of the election of Abraham, we may suppose it would have been thrown away. He with whom a thousand years are as one day had to look to, not the greatest good of men then, but to the greatest good of men to all time. And so he ordained a long period of preparation, both negative in bringing out what men could not do, and positive in the way of teaching by type and providential dealing. And he did not bring Christ into the world until he saw how his truth could get a firm hold, and be proclaimed wide to the nations. And though the gospel has yet much to do, it is in such a position that it cannot now be lost. But this was only part of a wider purpose. "According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." We have to bring in the whole purpose of God regarding the Church. This purpose he purposed in eternity. It was a purpose running through the ages. In Christ he saw the Church in the completeness of its idea, in the whole of its development. And, with this clear before his mind, he could patiently wait through the ages for the fuller unfolding of his purpose. As Christ is called the Wisdom of God, so we may expect to see in his Church a wisdom manifold as himself. What an element in the scheme of redemption, that the Redeemer was a Divine Being in human nature! How justice and mercy are reconciled in his cross! How sin is forgiven while God at the same time manifests his detestation of it! How manifold are the ways by which men are brought into the Church! What the final adjustment of things is to be is very much a mystery to us, as it is doubtless to the angels. But we stand in this position that, in what has been exhibited to us already of the manifold wisdom of God, we can look hopefully forward to the final reconciliation.
VII RETURN TO PRIVILEGE OF CHRISTIAN POSITION. "In whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him." Christ was the Object of their faith. Realizing by faith what he was, the provision made by him, the great love he bore to them, they had the spirit of sons. In Gal_3:26 it is said, "Ye are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." That is, we have the position of children. Here the thought is, we have the disposition of children.
1. The spirit of boldness. They had a free, joyous mood, as having an interest in Christ. They were delivered from the fear of wrath. They were not of the number of those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
2. In nearness to God (in the God-Man) they had the spirit of confidence. They had that confidence restored to them which Adam lost. They had the confidence to which Paul elsewhere gives lofty expression: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
VIII EXHORTATION LOOKING BACK TO FIRST VERSE. "Wherefore I ask that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which are your glory." He supposes that they would be concerned for his tribulations, as endured for them. How was the cause of Christ to be carried forward, when so principal an instrument was lying a prisoner in Rome? But he would have them not to faint, bringing forward the consideration that these tribulations of his were their glory. If he had proved unfaithful to their interests, and withdrawn from persecutions, that would have been a discrediting of him as a discrediting of the Founder of the Church, and they might in that case have been tempted to despair of Christianity. But, as he had stood true to them in the face of persecutions, that brought them honor, and was fitted to have a confirming, elevating effect on them as a Church. R.F.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-13.
Aspects of the true gospel ministry.
this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and. prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory." Homiletically, this whole passage, in which there are many digressions and involved utterances, may be regarded as exhibiting a true gospel minister in three aspects as the subject of vicarious suffering, the recipient of Divine ideas, and as the messenger of redemptive mercy.
I THE SUBJECT OF VICARIOUS SUFFERING. Paul speaks of himself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles," and in the thirteenth verse he says, my tribulations for you." As an apostle, Paul"s sufferings were great; elsewhere he gives a brief catalogue of them (Corinthians, etc.); but all his great sufferings as an apostle were vicarious they were for the men he endeavored to help. "All for you Gentiles." We offer three remarks concerning his vicarious sufferings, as a true gospel minister.
1. They were intense. What agony of mind is involved in the expression, "For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh"! According to Dean Alford, Dr. Wordsworth, Professor Plumptre, Jowett, and our best critics, this means such an agonizing desire for the salvation of men as would prompt the most terrible sacrifices to accomplish it. In another place he represents his state of mind as a parturition distress. "I travail in birth again." Again, "I suffer trouble, as an evil-doer, even unto bonds." And again he says, "I endure all things for the elect"s sake, that they may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus". (2Ti_2:9) Every true gospel minister knows something of this intense spiritual suffering for others. What solicitudes, disappointments, wrestlings of soul has he! So intense was the desire even of Moses for the good of others, that he said, If thou wilt forgive their sins and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written". (Exo_32:32)
2. They were voluntary. Human society is so organized that a certain amount of vicarious suffering comes on all men, irrespective of their choice, and even contrary to their choice. The innocent suffer for the guilty, children suffer on account of the sins of their parents. The present generation groans under the burdens of the past. But the vicarious sufferings of Paul, as a minister, were voluntary, he entered into them freely. The love of Christ "constrained" him to put himself in the place of suffering men, and to feel with them and for them. Hence he says, Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?". (2Co_11:29)
3. They were Christ-like. Whilst there are points which mark the vicarious sufferings of Christ, both in their nature and amount, from the vicarious sufferings of those of his ministers, yet there are points of agreement which are worthy of our notice. That such correspondence exists is suggested by the similarity of Scripture-language by which both are set forth. Both are represented as endured for sinners and in order to effect their salvation. Indeed, Paul speaks of his whole life as a sacrifice. (Php_2:17) Two points of analogy are especially worthy of remark.
(1) Both partook of intense grief on account of human sins. Christ"s grief on account of sin was intense, agonizing, and fathomless in amount. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," etc. Paul participated to some extent in this feeling. "Of whom I tell you even weeping, they are enemies of the cross of Christ." In truth, the vicarious sufferings of all genuine ministers partake of this. Even those of the Old Testament felt it. Jeremiah says, "Oh that my eyes were fountains of waters," etc.! and the psalmist, "I beheld the way of transgressors, and was grieved.
(2) Both partook of an intense anxiety for man"s salvation. To restore man to the knowledge, image, and fellowship of God was the one great object of Christ. For this he labored, for thin he agonized, bled, and died. Thin was Paul"s great aim. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself a servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the Law, as under the Law, that I might gain them that are under the Law; to them that are without Law, as without Law (being not without Law to God, but under the Law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without Law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some". (1Co_9:19-22) And in another place he says, "I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved". (1Co_10:33) Now, my position is that this intense, voluntary, Christ-like, vicarious suffering, not only ever characterizes the history of every genuine minister of Christ, but is an essential qualification for the office. Paul felt that his great efficiency in the work depended upon his proximation to Christ in the amount of his vicarious sufferings. What else did he mean when he said, I Paul rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body"s sake, which is the Church"? (Col_1:24)
II THE RECIPIENT OF DIVINE IDEAS. "By revelation he hath made known to me the mystery," etc. The gospel truths which Paul had to proclaim to the Gentiles were not derived from any human source. They were not the deductions of his own reason or the intuitions of his own soul, but they were revealed to him by God. "I never received it of man," said he, "neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ". (see Ac 16) We have an account of this revelation given by Patti himself. It is the glory of man that he can receive ideas from the great God himself. He has what no other creature under heaven has the capacity to take in the thoughts of the Infinite. It is essential to a true minister that he does this.
He cannot offer any spiritual help to humanity unless he does so. His own ideas have no power to help his race. The ideas to enlighten, elevate, and bless souls must come from God. Hence what Paul gave to the Gentiles, he tells us, came by revelation. Two remarks are suggested by the passage in relation to the idea.
1. It had been long hidden. He calls it the mystery: "The mystery which in other ages was not made known." It was a mystery not in the sense of incomprehensibility, but in the sense of undiscoveredness. It had been unrevealed, and therefore unknown to past generations. The whole gospel was once a mystery; it was in the mind of God as an idea unrevealed to the universe.
2. It was very grand. The particular idea to which the apostle here refers is this, that the Gentiles were to partake of the salvation of the gospel, and to be united in one body with the Jews. "That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel." Grand idea this! That the poor Gentiles should become "heirs" of the same inheritance as the Jews members of the same great spiritual "body" as the Jews partakers of the same great promise" as the Jews. The idea that Paul had from God was the uniting of all the races in the world in one great spiritual confederation.
3. It was exceedingly ancient. "From the beginning of the world it hath been hidden in God." Such was the idea that Paul tells us had been revealed to him and to the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. Every true gospel minister is the recipient of Divine ideas.
III THE MESSENGER OF REDEMPTIVE MERCY. Paul speaks of himself here as the "minister" of the things that have been revealed to him. "Whereof I was made a minister," etc. What he received he had to communicate. The passage indicates several things concerning a true messenger of redemptive mercy.
1. The Divine designation to the office. "I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power." The office of a true minister is a gift of grace a gift of grace, which comes to the soul by the effectual working of God"s power. Paul felt that he became a messenger of these truths, not by his own seeking or merit, but by the grace of God. Nor by his own native inclination, but by the effectual working of God"s power, referring, undoubtedly, to the Divine energy in his conversion. Every man must experience this Divine energy before he can become a true messenger of redemptive mercy. God must work in him before he can work by him.
2. The humble spirit of the office. "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given." The expression means, who am incomparably the least of all the saints, who am not worthy to be reckoned amongst them. The memory of his past conduct and the solemn grandeur of the work to which he was called deeply impressed him with the sense of his own unworthiness. Humility is essential to this great work; it is when a man feels his weakness that he is truly strong in the ministry of truth. A deep sense of our own insufficiency is essential to make us sufficient for this of all offices the most grand and momentous. He who feels himself the "least of all saints" will become the greatest of all preachers.
1. The grand subject of the office. What is the great theme of the gospel preacher? Scientific facts, philosophic speculations, theological theories? No; "the unsearchable riches of Christ." The word" unsearchable" occurs in only one other place in the New Testament, (Rom_11:33) where it is rendered past finding out." Past finding out, not so much in the sense of mystery, as in the sense of inexhaustibleness. It is an ocean whose depths are unfathomable, and whose breadth and length stretch into the infinite. These "unsearchable riches" of Christ, unlike material riches, are soul-satisfying, man-ennobling, ever-enduring.
2. The enlightening character of the office. "To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery." The idea is to enlighten all in respect to God"s redemptive mercy, the Gentiles as well as the Jews. The work of a true gospel minister is to make men see Divine things, to bring them before their eyes, and to induce them to look earnestly and steadily upon them.
3. The angelic bearing of the office. "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God." Several thoughts are implied in this passage.
(1) That there are in the universe a gradation of angelic intelligences. "Principalities and powers in heavenly places.
(2) That it is of great importance that they should study the manifold wisdom of God.
(3) That the Christian Church affords them a grand opportunity for studying this glorious subject. The Church is the effect, the manifestation, and the organ of God"s manifold or diversified wisdom.
(4) That the use of the Church for this object was according to the eternal plan of God. According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
4. The high privileges of the office. "In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." The accumulation of substantives in this sentence," says Hedge, "boldness, access, confidence, shows that the. re was no word which could express what Paul felt in view of the complete reconciliation of men to God through the mediation of Jesus Christ." The privileges of a true gospel minister, as indicated in vers. 12, 13, are:
(1) Free and fearless access to the great God.
(2) Divine support under the various trials of life.
I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory" Paul was now a prisoner at Rome, and. yet he felt that inward support which enabled him to exhort the saints at Ephesus not to faint or be disheartened on his account. Such in brief is the view which this passage presents of a true gospel minister. He is a man of vicarious suffering, a recipient of Divine ideas, a messenger of redemptive mercy. Where are the preachers that answer to this sketch? Let such men fill our pulpits, and the conversion of our England will not be far distant; and when all England becomes a true Church, the whole world will speedily be won to Christ. D.T.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENY Ver. 1.
The prisoner of Christ Jesus.
St. Paul writes from his Roman dungeon, with the galling constraints of his confinement constantly about him. There is a pathos in the situation that must move the sympathy of the reader; and yet there is a dignity and even a glory in it that make us feel the apostle"s occasional reference to his bonds chiefly a motive for giving the greater weight and solemnity to his persuasive exhortations.
I THE FAITHFUL SERVANT OF CHRIST MAY BECOME A PRISONER IN HIS CAUSE. St. Paul was called into the apostleship from a worldly position of great influence and brilliant prospects. He was the most gifted and the most devoted man in the Christian Church. No one labored more assiduously, and no one met with more marked success. Yet it has all come to this, that the great, honored apostle lies chained in a Roman prison, his life at the mercy of the "mad boy" Nero. The end might have been expected in this form. "A disciple is not above his master, nor a servant above his lord." If the Lord was crucified, shall we be surprised that the servant is imprisoned? Still some are perplexed and disappointed, not at suffering these great hardships, but at having to bear any cross for Christ. Christianity is the religion of the cross for the Christian as truly as for Christ.
II LIBERAL CHRISTIANITY MAY ENDANGER THE LIBERTY OF ITS ADVOCATE. St. Paul was a prisoner "in behalf of you Gentiles." We know, from the history in the Acts, that it was through the enmity of Jews that the apostle was accused before the Roman government, and that this enmity was roused by the jealousy they felt at his preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, and advocating the Gentile right to an equality with the Jew. St. Paul was the preacher of the more liberal Christianity of his day and therefore he was most grievously misunderstood and most bitterly opposed. They who feel called to preach more liberal views than are sanctioned by the prevailing opinions of the age may expect opposition, but may learn the duty of courage and fidelity to truth, and may be cheered by thinking of the lonely sufferers in the same cause in bygone days, when the larger views and the freer doctrines were more vigorously opposed than they can be now. The noble champions of liberal Christianity, from St. Paul to Maurice, have won substantial victories from which we profit.
III IT IS BETTER TO BE A PRISONER FOR CHRIST AND LIBERAL TRUTH THAN TO BE AT LIBERTY WITHOUT CHRIST AND IN UNCHARITABLE NARROWNESS, After all, the prisoner at Rome is more to be envied than pitied. He was the prisoner of Christ, and Christ was with him in his bondage. His was the real blessedness of those who are persecuted for righteousness" sake. St. Paul was the champion of freedom as opposed to the restraints of Judaism, and this real, spiritual freedom could not be destroyed by bolts and bars.
Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage.
The immortal dreamer had large liberty in Bedford jail when he traveled to the Beulah heights and almost as far as the gates of the celestial city.
IV THE PRISONER WHO SUFFERS FOR A GOOD CAUSE LAYS GREAT OBLIGATIONS UPON ALL WHO BENEFIT FROM IT. St. Paul quietly appeals to his imprisonment as a ground for prayer (ver. 14) and exhortation. (Eph_4:1) The sufferings of the great martyrs of liberty in the past urge us, who have entered into the heritage won by their toil and death, to be faithful to so great a trust, to walk worthy of it by using our liberty as an opportunity for the highest service of love, and to preserve it from all encroachments and hand it down to our children unfettered by new restraints of theological dogma or of official domination. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus…
Eph_3:1
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.
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St. Pauls ministry to the Gentiles a Divine grace to himself
If not wholly singular, there is something very characteristic, in this view which the Apostle of the Gentiles took of his vocation. So strong a hold had it taken of his imagination and feelings that he may be said positively to have revelled in it. It is alluded to again and again in his Epistles (Rom_1:5; Rom_11:13; 1Co_3:5; 1Co_3:10; Gal_1:15-16; Col_1:25; and Eph_4:7). How did it come about that this aspect of his work should have so impressed him?
I. It originated in the revelation of a Divine mystery (Eph_3:3-4). At Christs appearance to him when he was on his way to Damascus, he had been told that he was to preach to the heathen (Act_26:17-18). As to how far revelation of the calling of the Gentiles was absolutely required we can never fully know. Prophets had foretold the universal enjoyment of the Messianic blessing and the universal sway of the Messiah. Christ Himself frequently enough disclosed the wider horizon that stretched before His vision (Mat_8:11; Mat_25:31-34; Mat_28:20; Joh_12:32; Joh_4:21; Joh_4:24). But we know that the Jewish prejudices of the apostles were but slowly overcome. Peter required a vision to remove his (Act_10:28). And there can be no doubt that such a mind as Pauls, with its antecedents of exclusiveness and caste, could only have received an adequate sense of the pressing needs of the Gentile world and of his own obligation with respect to these in some such special way. Revelation as a proof of Divine condescension to human infirmity would in this ease remove the temptation natural illuminati in all ages have felt to consider themselves of a finer clay than others.
II. He felt it to be a great privilege to be engaged in it (verses 8, 9). His glowing language about the unsearchable wealth of Christ shows how exalted was his enthusiasm. He speaks of it as a dignified responsibility--a Divine economy or dispensation. And he was ever conscious of the spiritual possibilities of his work among the millions of Europe and Asia through the ages that were to follow. A vocation such as this could not but awaken emotions at once exalting and humbling to a generous, high strung nature. It was a grace to be the minister of such a grace.
III. It called forth within him a larger sense of spiritual life and power (verse 7; cf. Col_1:29; Eph_1:19; Eph_3:20). God was consciously working through him, with a force, a directness, and a constancy never felt before. He could say, I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me (Php_4:13). And in all his allusions to this experience he is careful to distinguish the Divine from the human.
IV. His previous conduct had given him no claim to such an honour (verse 8; cf. 1Co_15:9; 1Ti_1:12-16). His language has seemed exaggerated to many, but it is the honest and natural outcome of a profound sense of his past wrong-doing, against which the mercy of Christ stood out in such emphatic relief. The heart knows best its own depravity, and the depths from which it has been rescued. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
St. Paul a sufferer for the Gentiles
Had he been narrow and exclusive in his spirit, he would have been honoured and beloved. For his impartiality, he was hated of his countrymen. Had he shown a strong bias in their favour, and been prejudiced against men of other nations, they would have borne with him, and his Christianity too. He is writing to the Gentiles, and he reminds them that he is in prison, as their apostle. He had not only given to all men the gospel, but he had given it to them, free from Jewish associations. I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. There is too much reason to fear, that, even in our own day, the grand offence of many a noble servant of Jesus Christ, is the breadth of his Christianity. Let a man sell himself to some one Church, or party, warmly plead for his own party, exhibit the errors and defects of all other Churches, and he will live and die in the affections of his people. On the other hand, a man who declines specially to own this Church, or disown the other, who looks with an evil eye on none, but embraces all in the broad spirit of his impartial love, will certainly find that there are grave charges still against the Spirit of Christ, as distinct from the spirit of party. He may calculate on the cold suspicions and hard judgments of the self-loving Churches. Let him count the cost, and, if he can, declare himself for Christ and humanity; or, if he be not able, then for Christ and his own party. It is no small praise to say that Jesus is the King, whose subjects have always found positive pleasure in suffering for Him. To be disowned and set at nought for His sake are their honour and joy. In their esteem, no distinction could equal that of being partakers of Christs sufferings. We glory in tribulation. While suffering for His sake, the spirit of glory and of God rests upon them. What are the honours and rewards of party zeal compared with this? (J. Pulsford.)
Suffering in Gods cause
1. The pains of ministers with and for the Lords people are so far from being at an end when people are brought to Christ and built upon Him by faith, that even their being brought this length doth lay a new tie upon their ministers, both to deal with God on their behalf, and to labour with themselves so much the more earnestly, that, not only they do not lose those things which are already wrought (2Jn_1:8), but also they may make progress answerable unto their fair beginnings; lest otherwise they mar their own comfort (Psa_51:12), make the name of God to be evil spoken of (2Sa_12:14).
2. Such powerful influence hath God upon hearts, that He can make those who for the time are cruel persecutors of truth, prove afterwards famous martyrs and sufferers for it; for Paul was once a bloody persecutor (Gal_1:13), but is now a famous sufferer.
3. Sufferings for Christ and truth are so far from being cause of just reproach to those who suffer from others, or from being matter of shame and blushing to themselves, that they are rather a glory unto them, yea, and sometimes will be gloried in by them, as that wherein their chiefest honour standeth; for Paul, after the example of kings and nobles, who design themselves by their most honourable styles, doth in place of all take this one, of a prisoner for truth, unto himself; I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ.
4. So far ought people to be from stumbling at truth, because of the oppressed and suffering lot of those who preach it, that even their sufferings for truth should make their pains the more acceptable, and add a weight unto the word of truth in their mouth; for Paul describeth himself from his present suffering lot, that both his person and pains might have the more weight and efficacy with them; I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ.
5. The Lord doth sometimes give so far way to the rage of persecutors, as that the choicest instruments for carrying on His work may be, for a season, restrained in their liberty, and so laid aside as useless, even in a time when there is greatest need of their pains and diligence; far Paul, an eminent instrument (1Co_15:10), was at such a time cast in prison; I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ.
6. No afflictions or sufferings do loose a pastor from his duty towards the Lords people, over whom he is set; but when he is restrained in his liberty from preaching to them, he ought even then endeavour their edification by writing to them, and praying for them. (J. Fergusson.)
Persecution for the gospel
1. The effectual working of the gospel procures persecution to the ministers of it. The devil cannot endure with patience to see himself dispossessed and dislodged out of the hearts in which he has rested, and therefore spits his venom against them. This is the true reason, though other things are often pretended.
2. God can make the persecutors of His gospel become martyrs for it (Gal_1:13-23).
(1) Pray even for persecutors.
(2) Trust that God will overrule all for the best.
3. Gods faithful servants are subject to persecution.
(1) They cannot be pleasers of men.
(2) Christ will not be a King after the manner of this world.
(3) God would have it thus, in order to show that the power which subdues the world is of Him.
4. We must not be ashamed of our sufferings for Christ, but rather rejoice in them. Soldiers will tell of the wounds, the shot, and all hard measure they have suffered from the hand of the enemy under their colours; so must we esteem it our chief honour, when God allows us to suffer anything for His sake.
5. The sufferings of faithful ministers benefit their people. As the captains resolution rescues the whole army from discomfiture, so it sometimes happens that the ministers casting themselves upon the pikes, is the security of the people depending on them.
(1) Sufferings dispose us to be serviceable to others.
(2) Pattern to others.
(3) Testimony to the worth of the doctrine delivered.
(4) The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Persecution is the seed of peace. (Paul Bayne.)
Suffering a stimulus
A certain amount of persecution rouses a mans defiance, stirs his blood for magnificent battle, and makes him fifty times more a man than he would have been without the persecution. So it was with the great reformer when he said, I will not be put down; I will be heard. And so it was with Millard, the preacher, in the time of Louis XI. When Louis XI sent word to him that unless he stopped preaching in that style he would throw him into the river, he replied, Tell the king that I will reach heaven sooner by water than he will reach it by fast horses. (Dr. Talmage.)
Benefit of trial
I have somewhere read the following incident in the life of a distinguished botanist. Being exiled from his native land, he obtained employment as an under gardener in the service of a nobleman. While he was in this situation, his master received a valuable plant, the nature and habits of which were unknown to him. It was given to the gardener to be taken care of, and he, fancying it to be a tropical production, put it into the hothouse (for it was winter), and dealt with it as with the others under the glass. But it began to decay,…when the strange under gardener asked permission to examine it. As soon as he looked at it he said, This is an arctic plant: you are killing it by the tropical heat into which you have introduced it. So he took it outside, and exposed it to the frost, and, to the dismay of the upper gardener, heaped pieces of ice around the flower pot; but the result vindicated his wisdom, for straightway it began to recover, and was soon as strong as ever. Now, such a plant is Christian character. It is not difficulty that is dangerous to it, but ease. Put it into a hothouse, separate it from the world, surround it with luxury, hedge it in from every opposition, and you take the surest means of killing it. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Christs prisoners
Guy de Brez, a French minister, was prisoner in the castle of Tournay. A lady who visited him said she wondered how he could eat, or drink, or sleep in quiet. Madam, said he, my chains do not terrify me or break my sleep; on the contrary, I glory and take delight therein, esteeming them at a higher rate than chains and rings of gold, or jewels at any price whatever. The rattling of my chains is like the effect of an instrument of music in my ears--not that such an effect comes merely from my chains, but it is because I am bound therewith for maintaining the truth of the gospel.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Chapter 12
Chapter 12
THE SECRET OF THE AGES
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Eph_3:1-9
Eph_3:2-13 are in form a parenthesis. They interrupt the prayer which appears to be commencing in the first verse and is not resumed until Eph_3:14. This intervening period is parenthetical, however, in appearance more than in reality. The matter it contains is so weighty, and so essential to the argument and structure of the epistle, that it is impossible to treat it as a mere aside. The writer intends, at the pause which occurs after the paragraph just concluded, {Eph_2:22} to interpose a few words of prayer before passing on to the next topic. But in the act of doing so, this subject of which his mind is full-viz., that of his own relation to Gods great purpose for mankind-forces itself upon him; and the prayer that was on his lips is pent up for a few moments longer until it flows forth again, in richer measure, in Eph_3:14-19.
Eph_3:3-14, this passage is an extreme instance of St. Pauls amorphous style. His sentences are not composed; they are spun in a continuous thread, an endless chain of prepositional, participial, and relative adjuncts. They grow under our eyes like living things, putting forth new processes every moment, now in this and now in that direction. Within the main parenthesis we soon come upon another parenthesis including verses 3b and 4 (Eph_3:3-4) ("as I wrote afore," etc.); and at several points the grammatical connection is uncertain. In its general scope, this intricate sentence resolves itself into a statement of what God has wrought in the apostle toward the accomplishment of His great plan. It thus completes the exposition given already of that which, God wrought in Christ for the Church, and that which He has wrought through Christ in Gentile believers in the fulfilment of the same end, -
Eph_3:1-9 speak
(1) of the mystery itself-Gods gracious intention toward the human race, unknown in earlier times; and
(2) of the man to whom, above others, it was given to make known the secret.
I. The mystery is defined twice over. First, it consists in the fact that "in Christ Jesus through the gospel the Gentiles are co-heirs and coincorporate and co-partners in the promise" (Eph_3:6); and secondly, it is "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph_3:8). The latter phrase gathers to a point what is diversely expressed in the former.
Christ is, to St. Paul, the centre and the sum of the mysteries of Divine truth, of the whole enigma of existence. In the parallel epistle he calls Him "the mystery of God-in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden". {Col_2:2-3 : R.V} The mystery of God, discovered in Christ, was hidden out of the sight and reach of previous times. Now, by the preaching of the gospel, it is made the common property of mankind. {Col_1:25-28}
In close connection with these statements, St. Paul speaks there, as he does here, of his own heavy sufferings endured on this account and the joy they gave him. He is the instrument of a glorious purpose worthy of God; he is the mouthpiece of a revelation waiting to be spoken since the world began, that is addressed to all mankind and interests heaven along with earth. The greatness of his office is commensurate with the greatness of the truth given him to announce. The mystery, as we have said, consists in Christ. This we learned from Eph_1:4-5, and Eph_1:9-10. In Christ the Eternal lodged His purpose and laid His plans for the world. It is His fulness that the fulness of the times dispenses. The Old Testament, the reservoir of previous revelation, had Him for its close-kept secret, "held in silence through eternal times." {Rom_16:25-27} The drift of its prophecies, the focus of its converging lights, the veiled magnet towards which its spiritual indications pointed, was "Christ." He "was the spiritual rock that followed" Israel in its wanderings, from whose springs the people drank, as it answered to the touch of one and now another of the holy men of old. The revelation of Jesus Christ gives unity, substance, and meaning to the history of Israel, which is otherwise a pathway without goal, a problem without solution. Priest and prophet, law and sacrifice; the kingly Son of David and the suffering Servant of Jehovah; the Seed of the woman with bruised foot bruising the serpents head; the Lord whom His people seek, suddenly coming to His temple; the Stone hewn from the mountains without hands, that grows till it fills the earth-the manifold representations of Israels ideal, centre in the Lord Jesus Christ. The lines of the great figure drawn on the canvas of prophecy-disconnected as they seem and without a plan, giving rise to a thousand dreams and speculations-are filled out and drawn into shape and take life and substance in Him. They are found to be parts of a consistent whole, sketches and studies of this fragment or of that belonging to the consummate. Person and the comprehensive plan manifest in the revelation of Jesus Christ.
But while Christ gathers into Himself the accumulated wealth of former revelation, His fulness is not measured thereby or exhausted. He solves the problems of the past; He unseals the ancient mysteries. But He creates new and deeper problems, some explained in the continued teaching of His Spirit and His providence, others that remain, or emerge from time to time to tax the faith and understanding of His Church. There are the mysteries surrounding His own Person, with which the Greek Church struggled long- His eternal Sonship, His pre-incarnate relation to mankind and the creatures, the final outcome of the mediatorial reign and its subordination to the absolute sovereignty of God. These depths St. Paul sounded with his plummet; but he found them unfathomable. Theological science has explored and defined them, and illuminated them on many sides, but cannot reach to their inmost mystery. Then there is the problem of the atonement, with all the cognate difficulties touching the origin of sin, its heredity and its personal guilt, touching the adjustment of law and grace, the method of justification, the extent and efficacy of Christs redeeming work, touching the future destiny and eternal state of souls. Another class of questions largely occupies the minds of thoughtful men today. They are studying the relation of Christ and His Church to nature and the outward world, the bearings of Christian truth upon social conditions, the working of the Spirit of God in communities, and the place of mans collective life in the progress and upbuilding of the kingdom of Christ.
For such inquiries the Spirit of wisdom and revelation is given to those who humbly seek His light. He is given afresh in every age. Out of Christs unsearchable riches ever-new resources are forthcoming at His Churchs need, new treasures lying hidden in the old for him who can extract them. But His riches, however far they are investigated, remain unsearchable, and inexhaustible however largely drawn upon. Gods ways may be traced further and further in each generation; they will remain to the end, as they were to the mind of Paul at the limit of his bold researches, "past finding out." The inspired apostle confesses himself a child in Divine learning: "We know in part," he says, "we prophesy in part." Oh the depths of "hidden wisdom" unimagined now, that are in store for us in Christ, "fore-ordained before the worlds unto our glory!"
The particular aspect of the mystery of Christ with which the apostle is concerned, is that of His relationship to the Gentile world. "The grace of God," he says in Eph_3:2, "was given me for you." Such is "the dispensation" in which God is now engaged. Upon this lavish and undreamed-of scale He is dealing forth salvation to men. St. Paul describes this revelation of Gods goodness to the Gentiles by three parallel but distinct terms in Eph_3:6. They "are fellow-heirs"-a word that carries us back to Eph_1:11-13, and assures the Gentile readers of their final redemption and heavenly glory. {See Gal_3:7, Gal_5:5, Rom_8:14-25, 1Pe_1:4-5} They "are of the same body"-which sums up all that we have learnt from Eph_2:11-22. And they "are fellow-partakers of the promise"-receiving upon a footing of equal privilege with Jewish believers the gift of the Spirit and the blessings promised to Israel in the Messianic kingdom.
In virtue of the dispensation committed to him, St. Paul formally proclaims the incorporation of the Gentiles into the body of Christ, their investiture with the franchise of faith. The forgiveness of sins is theirs, the light of Gods smile, the breath of His Spirit, the worship and fellowship of His Church, the tasks and honours of His service. The incarnation of Christ is theirs; His life, teaching, and miracles; His cross is theirs; His resurrection and ascension, and His second coming, and the glories of His heavenly kingdom-all made their own on the bare condition of a penitent and obedient faith. The past is theirs-is ours, along with the "present and the future." The God of Israel is our God. Abraham is our father, though his sons after the flesh acknowledge us not. Their prophets prophesied of the grace that should come unto us. Their poets sing the songs of Zion to Gentile peoples in a hundred tongues. They lead our prayers and praises. In their words we find expression for our heart-griefs and joys. At the wedding-feast or by the grave-side, amidst "the multitude that keep holy day" and in "dry lands" where the soul thirsts for Gods ordinances, we carry the Psalmists with us and the teachers of Israel.
What a boundless wealth we Gentiles, taught by Jesus Christ, have discovered in the Jewish Bible! When will the Jewish people understand that their greatness is in Him, that the light which lightens the Gentiles is their true glory? When will they accept their part in the riches of which they have made all the world partakers? The mystery of our participation in their Christ has now been "revealed to the sons of men" long enough. Is it not time that they themselves should see it, that the veil should be lifted from the heart of Israel? The disclosure was in the first instance so astounding, so contrary to their cherished expectations, that one can scarcely wonder if it was at first rejected. But God, the King of the ages, has been asserting and re-asserting the fact in the course of history ever since. How vain to fight against Him! how useless to deny the victory of the Nazarene!
II. But there was in Israel an election of grace, -men of unveiled heart to whom the mystery of ages was disclosed. "The secret of Jehovah is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." Such is the rule of revelation. To the like effect Christ said: "The pure in heart shall see God. He that willeth to do His will shall know of the doctrine."
The light of Gods universal love had come into the world; but where it fell on cold or impure hearts, it shone in vain. The mystery "was made manifest to His saints, " writes the apostle in Col_1:26. So in this passage: "revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit." The pure eye sees the true light. This was the condition which made it possible for Paul himself and his partners in the gospel to be the bearers of this august revelation. It needed sincere and devoted men, willing to be taught of God, willing to surrender every prejudice and the preconceptions of flesh and blood, in order to receive and convey to the world thoughts of God so much larger and loftier than the thoughts of men. To such men-true disciples, loyal at all costs to God and truth, holy and humble of heart-Jesus Christ gave His great commission and bade them "go and make disciples of all the nations."
The secret was further disclosed to Peter, when he was taught at the house of Cornelius "not to call any man common or unclean." He saw, and the Church of Jerusalem saw and confessed that God "gave the like gift" to uncircumcised Gentiles as to themselves and had "purified their hearts by faith." Many prophetic voices, unrecorded, confirmed this revelation. Of all this Paul is thinking here. It is to his predecessors in the knowledge of the truth rather than to himself that he refers when he speaks of "holy apostles and prophets" in Eph_3:5. His readers would naturally turn to them in coming to this plural expression. The original apostles of Jesus and witnesses of His truth first attested the doctrine of universal grace; and that they did so was a fact of vital importance to Paul and the Gentile Church. The significance of this fact is shown by the stress which is laid upon it and the prominence given to it in the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles. The apostle frequently alludes to revelations made to himself; he never claims that this chief matter was revealed personally to himself. It was an open secret when Saul entered the Church.
"Whereof," he says, in Eph_3:7, "I became minister"; again, "to me was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles Christs unsearchable riches." The leaders of the Jewish Christian Church knew well that their message was meant for all the world. But the abstract knowledge of a truth is one thing; the practical power to realise it is another. Until the new apostle came upon the field, there was no man ready for this great task and equal to it. It was at this crisis that Paul was raised up. Then "it pleased God to reveal His Son "in him, that he might" preach Him among the Gentiles." The effect of this summons upon Paul himself was overwhelming, and continued to be so till the end of life. The immense favour humbles him to the dust. He strains language, heaping comparative upon superlative, to describe his astonishment as the import of his mission unfolds itself: "To me, less than the least of all the saints, was this grace given." That Saul the Pharisee and the persecutor, the most unworthy and most unlikely of men, should be the chosen vessel to bear Christs riches to the Gentile world, how shall he sufficiently give thanks for this! how express his wonder at the unfathomable wisdom and goodness that the choice displays in the mind of God! But we can see well that this choice was precisely the fittest. A Hebrew of the Hebrews, steeped in Jewish traditions and glorying in his sacred ancestry, none knew better than the apostle Paul how rich were the treasures stored in the house of Abraham that he had to make over to the Gentiles. A true son of that house, he was the fittest to lead in the aliens, to show them its precious things and make them at home within its walls.
To himself the office was an unceasing delight. The universalism of the gospel-a commonplace of our modern rhetoric-had burst upon his mind in its unspoilt freshness and undimmed splendour. He is sailing out into an undiscovered ocean, with a boundless horizon. A new heaven and earth are opened to him in the revelation that the Gentiles are partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. He is entranced, as he writes, with the largeness of the Divine purpose, with the magnificent sweep and scope of the designs of grace. These verses give us the warm and genuine impression made upon the hearts of its first recipients by the disclosure of the universal destination of the gospel of Christ.
St. Pauls work, in carrying out the dispensation of this mystery, was twofold. It was both external and internal. He was a "herald and apostle"; he was also "teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth". {1Ti_2:7} He had in the former capacity to carry the good tidings from one end to the other of the Roman empire, to spread it abroad as far as his feet could travel and his voice reach, and thus "to fulfil the gospel of Christ." But there was another, mental task, as necessary and still more difficult, which likewise fell to his lot. He had to think out the gospel. It was his office to unfold and apply it to the wants of a new world, to solve by its aid the problems that confronted him as evangelist and pastor, -questions that contained the seed and beginning of the intellectual difficulties of the Church in future times. He had to free the gospel from the swaddling-bands of Judaism, to emancipate the spirit from the letter of a mechanical and legal interpretation. On the other hand, he had equally to guard the truth as it is in Jesus from the dissolving influences of Gentile scepticism and theosophy. Fighting his way through fierce and incessant opposition on both sides, the apostle Paul led the mind of the Church onwards and guides it still in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God. These noble epistles are the fruit and record of St. Pauls theological work. Through them he has left a deeper mark on the conscience of the world than any one man besides, except the Master of truth who was more than man. The apostle was not unaware of the vast influence he now possessed, and that must accrue to him in the future from the transcendent interest of the doctrines committed to his charge. There is no false modesty about this splendidly gifted man. It is his not only to "preach to the Gentiles the good news of Christs unsearchable riches"; but more than that, "to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery that has been hidden away from the ages in God who created all things." The great secret was out while Saul of Tarsus was still a persecutor and blasphemer. But as to the management and dispensation of the mystery, the practical handling of it, as to the mode and way in which God would convey and apply it to the world at large, and as to the bearings and consequences of this momentous truth, -the apostle Paul, and no one but he, had all this to expound and set in order. He was, in fact, the architect of Christian doctrine. Theologically, Peter and John himself were Pauls debtors; and are included amongst the "all men" of Eph_3:9 (if this reading of the text is correct). St. John had, it is true, a more direct intuition into the mind of Christ and rose to an even loftier height of contemplation; but the labours and the logic of St. Paul provided the field into which he entered in his ripe old age spent at Ephesus. John, who absorbed and assimilated everything that belonged to Christ and found foreverything its principle and centre in the Master of his youth-"the way, the truth, and the life"- passed through the school of Paul. With the rest, he learnt through the new apostle to see more perfectly "what is the dispensation of the mystery hidden from the ages in God."
Well persuaded is our apostle that all readers of this letter in the Asian towns, if they have not known it before, will now "perceive" his "understanding in the mystery of Christ." All ages have discerned it since. And the ages to come will measure its value better than we can do now.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 1. For this cause. This refers to the glorious…
1. For this cause. This refers to the glorious work of the cross in “making peace and bringing the Gentiles nigh,” described in chapter 2. I, Paul. The verb of which “I, Paul,” is the subject, is not given until verse 14 is reached. The intervening verses are parenthetic. At verse 14 Paul repeats the first clause of verse 1, and then gives the verb. The prisoner of Jesus Christ. A prisoner at Rome when this was written, on account of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For you Gentiles. It was the hatred of the Jews towards him, on account of his apostleship to the Gentiles, which caused his seizure. See Acts 21:33, and 28:17, 20.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Eph_3:1. The prisoner of Jesus Christ may be regarded…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Eph_3:1. The prisoner of Jesus Christ may be regarded as “the prisoner whom the Lord has bound” (so Winer and Meyer), or as “a prisoner belonging to Christ,” or again as “the prisoner for Christ’s sake.” The indignity of an ambassador being “thrown into irons” is lost in the feeling of being, even though bound, the representative of such a Lord.
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Eph_3:2. If ye have heard.—We have the same form of expression at Eph_4:21—“assuming, that is, that ye heard” (cf. Col_1:23). Of the grace.—The favour which God conferred on me in appointing me your apostle. The divine “Taskmaster” (to use Milton’s expression) confers honour upon us when He sets us to work. “He is not served by men’s hands as though He needed anything” (Act_17:25).
Eph_3:3. How that by revelation.—The familiar disavowal of any other source than the will of God (cf. Gal_1:12).
Eph_3:4. Ye may understand my knowledge.—You may, as the public reader proceeds to read my letter, discern my insight of the mystery.
Eph_3:5. Which in other ages.—R.V. “other generations.” Might possibly refer to those dim ages of the past national history when the Gentiles were thought of only as left to “uncovenanted mercies.” We must note the word for “other”—it means a “different kind.” Was not made known … as it is now revealed.—If any distinction is to be observed, we may say the “revelation” is one of the ways of “making known” (see Eph_3:3) the intuitional. Unto His holy apostles and prophets.—“If all saints were holy à fortiori the apostles” (Bishop Alexander).
Eph_3:6. Fellow-heirs … the same body … partakers.—“The A.V. loses a point of similarity in the three Gentile privileges by not expressing the force of the Greek compounds by the same English word. Lit. ‘heirs together,’ ‘incorporated together,’ ‘sharers together,’ not heirs after, but together with, the Jews; not attached to the Hebrew body, but incorporated into it together with the element that previously constituted it; not receivers of the promise after others had been satisfied, but partakers of it together with them” (Bishop Alexander). “Co-heirs, and concorporate, and comparticipant. The strange English words may perhaps correspond to the strange Greek words which St. Paul invented to express this newly revealed mystery in the strongest form, as though no words could be too strong to express his conception of the reunion in Christ of those who apart from Him are separate and divided” (Farrar).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Eph_3:1-6
An Enlarged Gospel—
I. Declaring the admission of the Gentiles on the same footing as the Jews to its highest privileges (Eph_3:6).—It came as a surprise to the world of the apostle’s day that the gospel he preached offered its blessings on equal terms to Jew and Gentile. The Jew, accustomed to be the sole repository of divine revelation, was staggered at the discovery that heaven extended its favours to the outcast, heathenish Gentile; and the Gentile, proudly trusting to his own intellectual activity in the search after truth, greeted with wonder the ampler and loftier revelations of the new evangel. It seemed too good to be true. A new era was dawning, and men were dazzled and bewildered with the splendour of the vision. It is now authoritatively declared that, on the simple conditions of penitence and faith, the Gentile world is incorporated into the body of Christ. So far from being excluded from the divine favour, the believing Gentiles are reckoned as “fellow-heirs, and of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel”; and the marvel is increased by the discovery that this astounding privilege is no new thought in the divine mind, but was an essential part of the purpose concerning the race that had been developing in the slow march of the ages. The Hebrew Scriptures with their records of extraordinary theophanies, the saintly characters of Old Testament times, the Messianic revelations and the wealth of spiritual blessing which the isolated Jew had selfishly appropriated to himself, are the heaven-given privileges of universal man.
II. Was wrapped in mystery for ages.—“Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men” (Eph_3:5). The mystery all centres in Christ. The revelation of Messiah as the hope and salvation of the race was dimly and slowly unveiled in progressive stages. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.” Some of His grandest movements are veiled in mystery till the right moment comes, when the obscurity vanishes and the vastness and beauty of the completed work elicit our admiration and praise. We are familiar with this process in the natural world and in the progress of human history. The fruits of the earth do not reach maturity at a bound. Slowly and in secret the bud is rounded, then comes the delicately tinted blossom, and afterwards the tempting, mellow fruit. The same may be said of the growth of human character. It reaches the higher grades of mental and moral excellence by slow and silent stages, and advances in the ratio of the fidelity and energy with which the man carries out the great plan of his life-career. So the revelation of the gospel mystery has been gradual and progressive. The purpose itself is incapable of progress—it has been fixed from eternity; but it has been made known to the world in portions suited to each succeeding period of its history. The law shadowed forth that purpose with more fulness than any previous dispensation, and the prophets went beyond the law, occupying a middle place between it and the gospel, while the gospel in its fuller revelation has gone as far beyond the prophets as they went beyond the law. Thus we see that God “who appears deliberate in all His operations” has unfolded His great purpose to save the race by slow and successive stages. The mystery of yesterday is the sunlit epiphany of to-day.
III. Was specially revealed by the Spirit.—“How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery” (Eph_3:3). “As it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Eph_3:5). Notwithstanding the gradual disclosure of the mystery of the gospel, its full significance could not have been caught without supernatural help. Mere flux of time adds nothing to our knowledge; nor can the most active intelligence decipher the spiritual meaning of truth. The Spirit of God, operating on the alert and awakened mind of the apostle, revealed to him the glory and power of Christ—the hidden mystery of ages—and opened to him the far-reaching provisions of the enlarged gospel of which Christ is the inexhaustible theme. There is still much mystery in the gospel that remains to be fathomed—the problem of the atonement, the origin of sin, the future destiny and eternal state of human souls, and the revelation of Christ and His Church to present-day social and economic questions in their bearing on human development and the future prosperity of the kingdom of God on earth. We are in daily need of the light and teaching of the Holy Spirit.
IV. Was entrusted to man as a stewardship of divine grace.—“The dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward” (Eph_3:2). The mystery of the gospel was revealed to Paul that he might dispense its benefits to others. Former generations had received light from heaven; but not sufficiently appreciating it, or wishing to keep it within too narrow a sphere, it grew dim and went out. Where it fell on prepared hearts it was used for the illumination and blessing of others. Paul was divinely prepared for the revelation; he received it in trust for others; he saw the boundless provisions of the gospel, and became a powerful advocate of its universal claims. Every minister is a steward of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and it is his joy to minister to others whatever of insight into truth and grace of experience the divine Spirit may entrust to him. The gospel is an ever-enlarging gospel to the soul lit up and informed by the revealing Spirit.
Lessons.—
1. The gospel is an advance on all previous revelations.
2. It is the grandest revelation of saving truth.
3. It can be known and enjoyed only by the Spirit.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Eph_3:1-21. Riches of Christ.—Many make Christianity something local, temporary, and thus degrade it. Christ is inexhaustible for mind and heart; we find all in Him. Let us never make of this rich Christ a poor one. What Christ has instituted must be something transcendent, and not so common that every intellect can discover it.—Heubner.
Eph_3:1-6. The Calling of the Gentiles.
I. Paul calls himself a prisoner of Christ for the Gentiles.—The liberality of his sentiments towards them and the boldness with which he asserted their title to equal privileges with Jews were the principal reasons why the latter persecuted him with such violence, and caused him to be sent a prisoner to Rome. The spring of this bitter enmity in the Jews was their spiritual pride and worldly affection. Liberality of sentiment essentially belongs to true religion. Bigotry, hatred, and envy among Christians debase their character and scandalise their profession. We should entertain exalted thoughts of the divine Goodness. Such thoughts enlarge the mind and liberalise the feelings.
II. The gospel is called a dispensation of the grace of God.—It is a discovery of that method which the wisdom of God has chosen for dispensing His grace and mercy toward fallen men. It is called the gospel of God as it originated in His pleasure; and the gospel of Christ as He is the immediate author of it, and His doctrines and works, His life and death, His resurrection and ascension, and the blessings procured by Him are the subjects on which it principally treats. The grace which the gospel offers is pardon and glory. Under such a dispensation how inexcusable are the impenitent, and how amazing will be the punishment of those who finally perish in their guilt!
III. This dispensation was committed to the apostle for the benefit of mankind.—It was a trust committed to him by the will of God, not a power arrogated by his own presumption. He did not rely on a secret, internal call as what alone would warrant him to commence as a preacher. He carefully conformed to the order which Christ has instituted in His Church. He instructed Timothy and Titus to do likewise. Ministers are not to found their warrant to preach on any immediate revelation. If they should pretend to this, it would be no warrant for them to assume it, unless they can by miracles prove to the world the reality of the pretended revelation.
IV. The knowledge of the gospel was communicated to Paul by revelation.—God did not, at the expense of inspiration, teach the apostles those things which they knew or might know by other means. But where actual knowledge and the means of obtaining it were wanting, there inspiration supplied the defect. It is not necessary for us to know the nature of this inspiration, or the manner in which the apostles were assured of its divinity. If we believe there is an infinite and all-perfect Spirit, who pervades universal nature, we must believe He can reveal His will to men by such an immediate influence as shall carry its own evidence and leave no possible doubt of its reality. If we deny the possibility of a certain inspiration from God, we deny that power to Him which we ourselves possess, for we can speak to men in such a manner that they shall certainly know we speak to them and perfectly understand our meaning.—Lathrop.
Eph_3:4; Eph_3:6. The Knowledge of Christ intended for All.—It is significant that the inscription on the cross was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
1. Hebrew, the language of religion, of the revelation concerning the one true God.
2. Greek, the language of literature, of arts and culture, the best medium in which to transmit the literature of the New Testament, as Hebrew was for that of the Old. It might be designated as the human language.
3. Latin, the language of the conquerors and masters of the world—also of the Roman Empire, as that kingdom of worldly aggrandisement and power, falsehood and wrong, in opposition to the kingdom of God destined to uproot and replace it. The Roman soldiers stationed throughout Europe became useful factors in the spread of the gospel. Note also the synoptic gospels of
1. Matthew—Hebrew in thought and diction, written to convince Jews.
2. Mark—Latin in thought, and written for the Roman mind.
3. Luke—Greek in thought and style, written for Gentiles.
Eph_3:4-5. God known in Christ.—After the death of Pascal there was found in the lining of his coat a parchment which he never parted from, in order to keep in his memory a certain epoch in his life. It contained these words: “Certainty—joy—the God of Jesus Christ, not of the philosophers and savants. Oh that I may never be separated from Him!” The explanation of this is, that on one memorable night, during a holy watching, he had met, not merely the Machinist of the universe, the God who is but the substance or the law of the world, but the God who wills and creates the happiness of His children.
Eph_3:5-6. The Comprehensiveness of the Gospel.—
1. God’s purpose to call the Gentiles was not altogether unknown to the ancient Church; but it was not so clearly revealed under the Old Testament as under the New.
2. Though God might easily communicate the knowledge of Himself unto all immediately and without the help of second means, yet He hath chosen so to communicate His mind to some few only who have, at His appointment, set down in sacred writ what they immediately received, by which means the knowledge of God may, in an ordinary way, be conveyed to others.
3. It is a great and glorious privilege to be a part of that mystical body of which Christ is Head, because of the strict union such have with Christ and with all believers in Christ, and because of their interest in all the privileges of that body and in the gifts and graces of every member of it.—Fergusson.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain Eph 3:1-13.
Eph 3:1-13.
The Grace Given to Paul.
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The enthusiasm with which the Apostle speaks of preaching the Gospel to the heathen is contagious. His words burn on the page, and our hearts take fire as we read them. What was the secret of this exultation in the Gospel and in his commission to make the Gospel known to all mankind? The question is a large one, but considerable light is thrown upon it by the contents of this Epistle.
I. Paul had a vivid intellectual interest in the Christian Gospel. To him it was a real revelation of the most wonderful and surprising truths concerning God and the relations of God to the human race. It urged his intellectual powers to the most strenuous activity; it never lost its freshness; it was never exhausted. I believe that in all the great movements of religious reform that have permanently elevated the life of Christendom there has been a renewal of intellectual interest in the Christian revelation. And if at the present time the religious life of the Church is languid, and if in its enterprises there is little of audacity or vehemence, a partial explanation is to be found in the decline of intellectual interest in the contents of the Christian faith which has characterised the last hundred or hundred and fifty years of our history.
II. The heart and imagination of Paul were filled with the infinite and eternal blessings which were the inheritance of the human race in Christ. For human sin there was the Divine forgiveness; for human weakness in its baffled attempts to emancipate itself from the tyranny of evil passions and evil habits there was the Divine redemption. Paul believed in the unsearchable riches of Christ. We shall never recover his enthusiasm as long as we dwell chiefly on the external and incidental benefits which follow the acceptance of the Christian Gospel.
R. W. Dale, Lectures on the Ephesians, p. 220.
References: Eph 3:1-13.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 203. Eph 3:3, Eph 3:4.—H. Wace, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 45. Eph 3:3-6.—C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 438.
Eph 3:8
The Unsearchable Riches of Christ.
I. Paul preached riches. This word represents three things: value, abundance, and supply.
II. Unsearchable riches—that is, value not traced by inquiry and investigation. You can very soon search earthly riches; but you cannot, by any use or enjoyment, search the unsearchable riches of Christ.
III. Christ bestows His riches freely; His joy is in communicating of His fulness. He has no wish to keep back anything from us that would do us good. We may stretch out both hands to heaven for all the help we need, and from the riches of Christ we shall have it.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Sermons, 3rd series, p. 79.
Reference: Eph 3:8.—A. Maclaren, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. v., p. 15; A. D. Davidson, Lectures and Sermons, p. 275; Smart, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 391; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 356; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 26; vol. ii., p. 247; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii., No. 745; vol. xx., No. 1209; Ibid., Evening by Evening, pp. 62, 237; E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons to a Country Congregation, p. 33; W. Ince, Church of England Pulpit, vol. ix.,p. 61; Homilist, 2nd series, vol. iii.,p. 409; Graham, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 284; E. Aston, Ibid., vol. xxii., p. 148; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v.,p. 11. Eph 3:8-11.—D. Eraser, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 225; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xii., p. 20. Eph 3:9.—Claughton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 72; Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 354. Eph 3:10.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii., No. 448; vol. xvi., No. 933. Eph 3:11.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 88. Eph 3:14.—A. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 46; J. C. Gallaway, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 88.
Eph 3:14-15
One Family in Heaven and Earth.
Of God, the universal Father, the whole family in heaven and earth is named. He is Father to them all. They all feel the comfort of His love. And we may be sure that whatever needs to be done in those heavenly worlds in sustaining weakness, in guiding inexperience, in the leading of young spirits, or in the comforting of those that are discouraged by the mysteries of the universe—all will be done by the universal Father, who is the same yesterday, today, and for ever.
I. These views ought somewhat to overcome the depressing effect naturally produced on us by the vastness and the grandeur of the material universe. Magnitudes and distances and millenniums are nothing to Him, and He would not have us sink under the weight of them.
II. This passage will do us good if it confirms our faith in the actual objective existence of heaven as a place, a chosen favoured place, where God and His children meet and dwell. Our friends have gone to the old ancestral home, which Christ has enlarged and beautified and fitted in every way for the reception of the redeemed from among men. They have gone from the mere colony, lying far out from the seat of government and the central city, into the better country and within the gates of the bright metropolis.
III. Heaven has great priority and pre-eminence over earth, and we may well yield up our best and dearest to swell its numbers and enhance its glories and felicities.
IV. If we thus regard heaven, we shall find it by so much easier to bear some of our heaviest sorrows and to understand some of the deepest mysteries of life. Among the deepest is death, the premature death, as we say, of those who are just prepared to live, who are greatly gifted, greatly needed, greatly loved. When to live is Christ, then to die must be gain.
V. It surely ought with each one of us to be the great ambition of our life and the very chief of all our cares to belong heart and soul to this great family of God.
A. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 46.
References: Eph 3:14, Eph 3:15.—Archbishop Magee, Church of England Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 145; F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 181; E. L. Hull, Sermons, 1st series, p. 121. Eph 3:14-16.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ix., p. 313; W. Anderson, Discourses, p. 19. Eph 3:14-19. A. J. Parry, Phases of Truth, p. 249.
Eph 3:14-21
Filled with all the Fulness of God.
I. Perhaps it would be well to leave this phrase in its vague sublimity without any attempt to explain it as it stands. It appeals to the imagination, touches lofty sentiment, and seems to suggest a grandeur belonging to worlds as yet unvisited by human thought. But though the phrase stands for an idea which passes beyond the limits of all definitions, the idea will be better apprehended if we attempt to get an exact conception of the phrase.
II. There are plants which we sometimes see in these Northern latitudes, but which are native to the more generous soil and the warmer skies of Southern lands. In their true home they grow to a greater height; their leaves are larger, their blossoms more luxuriant and of a colour more intense: the power of the life of the plant is more fully expressed. And as the visible plant is the more or less adequate translation into stem and leaf and flower of its invisible life, so the whole created universe is the more or less adequate translation of the invisible thought and power and goodness of God. He stands apart from it. His personal life is not involved in its immense processes of development, but the forces by which it moves through pain and conflict and tempest towards its consummate perfection are a revelation of His eternal power and Godhead. For the Divine idea to reach its complete expression and an expression adequate to the energy of the Divine life, we ourselves must reach a large and harmonious perfection. As yet we are like plants growing in an alien soil and under alien skies, and the measures of strength and grace which are possible to us even in this mortal life are not attained. The Divine power which is working in us is obstructed. But a larger knowledge of the love of Christ will increase the fervour of every devout and generous affection; it will exalt every form of spiritual energy; it will deepen our spiritual joy; it will add strength to every element of righteousness, and will thus advance us towards that ideal perfection which will be the complete expression of the Divine power and grace, and which Paul describes as the fulness of God.
R. W. Dale, Lectures on the Ephesians, p. 242.
References: Eph 3:14-21.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 356; Ibid., vol. xxix., p. 266; vol. xxx., p. 225; A. D. Davidson, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 227.
Eph 3:15
The ascension of our Lord is little thought of by many who seem to derive much comfort from dwelling on His death and His resurrection. The Ascension, they say, may be a fit subject for those who dream dreams and see visions to meditate upon. Often we long for a few hours’ of cloister life; then perhaps our spirits would sometimes find wings and mount up as eagles towards the sun. But we are in the midst of the bustle, and distraction, and ignominious occupations, of daily duties. We must perforce stay among these. Should we not reconcile ourselves to our lot? Should we not keep our souls low, not exercising ourselves in great matters which are too high for us? Is not this a part of the humility which is enjoined upon us, and which it is difficult enough to preserve, even with all our caution?
I. St. Paul never thought of the precepts which belong to the ordinary business of earth as standing aloof from the revelations of the Divine world or as merely added to them. He supposed that the Ephesians ought to know that they were sitting with Christ in heavenly places, in order that they might not lie or allow filthy communications to proceed out of their mouths. He did not suppose that it was unnecessary to tell those for whom he asked that they might know the unsearchable riches of Christ that they should not deceive, nor slander their neighbour, nor be thieves nor adulterers. If the saints in Ephesus considered it an insult to hear these plain broad exhortations they must go to some other teacher than St. Paul.
II. A faith which boasts that it rests upon the death and resurrection of Christ, without taking any account of His ascension, may serve very well as long as our thoughts are occupied chiefly with the conditions of our own souls and with the question how they may be saved here and hereafter. But when we are brought to feel that we are bound up for good and for evil with our race, that we are not and cannot be exempt from any of its transgressions, that with it we must sink or swim, there comes a demand for something more than the gift of pardon, than the promise of a better world if we should be worthy of it. We can make out no special case for ourselves; there are no circumstances in our lives which entitle us to ask for exemptions and mitigations when our evil deeds are brought into judgment, far less which can make us dream of rewards. If man is doomed, you and I are doomed; if there is anywhere a salvation for man, that is for us. When we are brought to this pass, to this borderland between despair and a hope that is beyond all we can ask or think, the ascension day breaks in upon us with the light of seven suns. He has gone up on high; He is there, not separated from the creatures whose nature He bears, not separated from them in any sympathy, and that which constitutes His perfect humanity is our inheritance, this is the new and glorious clothing which He has provided for us if we will put it on, which’ we do put on when we remember that it is His for us.
F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 75.
References: Eph 3:15.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1249; C. J. Vaughan, Church of England Pulpit, vol. v., p. 44; Homilist, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 597; Ibid., 3rd series, vol. vii., p. 84; G. Henderson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 309; J. B. Brown, Ibid., vol. xviii., p. 8; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 273; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 148.
Eph 3:16
The Inner Man.
Every one has an inner man, a better self, a potential perfection within him, which will awake and begin to flower when he feels in his soul the touch of God. Through dress, through manners, through morals, through religious ceremony, we have to go to find the inner man, the very soul. How then is the discovery made? How does a man reach the centre and fountain of his own being, find himself, recover himself, bring himself home again to God? There are very great varieties of experience, but perhaps these things or something like them will be found in all.
I. First, what may be called a soul consciousness, a consciousness of having or being a soul, not merely an animated something, to be covered with dress and beautified with manners, but a something spiritual, vast, deep, related to eternity, related to God.
II. The next thing is the conscious relation to God. No sooner does a man become conscious of his true self than he in that very act becomes cognisant and sensible of God.
III. The next thing, or the thing which goes along with this very often, is the consciousness of sin. If a man, looking and searching inwards, has found no sin to trouble him and humble him, he has not yet found himself.
IV. Then further he becomes conscious of goodness as well as of sin, not the old formal goodness, but goodness that is fresh, and new, and living, with love in the heart of it, gratitude lending it a glow and a lustre, faith building it up. First repentance; then cleansing and forgiveness; then gratitude; then filial love; then active goodness? Not so. The moment a man comes to himself, all these things begin together and go on together.
A. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 1.
References: Eph 3:16.—A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart, p. 1; J. E. Gibberd, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 45. Eph 3:16, Eph 3:17.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 273.
Eph 3:16-19
Spiritual Strength.
We may fasten upon five significant terms as keys by which we may unlock this Divine casket, so that its precious contents, the riches of the Father’s glory, may be set free and shed abroad.
I. The first is faith. The seat of the strength imparted is the inner man; it is the strength not of outward propping, but of inward peace and power. The essence of it is Christ dwelling in your hearts, Christ living in you, Christ in you the hope of glory. And the means or instrument of receiving it is your simple heart’s faith. Well may this strength be characterised as mighty, your being strengthened with might. It is, indeed, your being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
II. To faith succeeds love. You are to be rooted and grounded in love. These images suggest the ideas of a grove and a building. You are to be rooted as the trees that constitute a grove and grounded as the stones and pillars of a building, "rooted and built up." Love is the soil, rich, deep, and generous, and withal homogeneous all through, in which all the trees are rooted. It is also the soft and tender lime or mortar, the close-drawing and close-fixing cement, in which through successive layers the stones are deposited or embedded.
III. Faith and love lead on to comprehension, or taking in, a comprehensive survey of something very vast and vast in all directions. I am one of the family that fills the house to overflowing, one of the society for whose accommodation the house is almost too small. I comprehend its breadth, and length, and depth, and height, only to realise, in common with all the saints with whom I comprehend it, that in all directions it defies any bounds I might assign to it.
IV. Through this process we reach a marvellous knowledge, and at last—
V. "We are filled with all the fulness of God."
R. S. Candlish, Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, p. 53.
References: Eph 3:16-19.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii., p. 707; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. vii., p. 144.
Eph 3:17
I. It is certain that something will dwell in our hearts. They are not intended to remain empty. If they are not filled with good, some evil spirit will enter in, and he, not Christ, will dwell there. If we are to realise what St. Paul means when he speaks of us as a habitation of God through the Spirit, we may do well to consider what some of those things are which do daily fill our thoughts, and almost literally people our hearts. We shall find that some of these inhabitants are in themselves innocent; that some are unmistakably corrupt; that all become usurpers when they cease to be subordinate to Him who alone has a right to supremacy.
II. We must learn to carry about with us a consciousness of Christ’s real presence. We must regard ourselves as working and living for Him. We must look for His sympathy in anything that we have to do. Before doing any new thing we must ask whether He would have it done, and in what spirit He would have it done. Just as we see children or very young persons, if they are asked for an opinion, turn to their father or their mother to know first what they think, so no Christian is too old or too young to turn in thought to Christ to know how far He sanctions and what way of doing or thinking He dictates.
III. Christ dwells in others in spite of much that seems to be at variance with His presence. One great difficulty in the way of our being Christians is that no one appears to imagine that we wish to be Christians. Sympathy is one of Christ’s truest messengers. They who refuse it tempt us to distrust Him and to deny Him. Christ dwells, or tries to dwell, in the hearts of all of us. If so, can we tempt one another to sin, and so to shut Him out? If so, can we speak contemptuously or think harshly of one another? Contempt for a soul in which Christ is not ashamed to dwell? Harsh thoughts of a spirit into which Christ is tenderly striving to force an entrance?
H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, p. 120.
References: Eph 3:17.—A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart, p. 15; J. Culross, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 207; Hannah, Church of England Pulpit, vol. i., p. 313; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. vi., p. 340; Herbert, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 94; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 238; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 176; vol. ix., p. 314. Eph 3:17-19.—Ibid., p. 315; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 31. Eph 3:18.—A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart, pp. 27-41.
Eph 3:19
The Cross the Measure of Love.
I. What is the language in which Christ reveals His love to us but His cross and Passion? The words, deeds, and sufferings of the Son of God are but one act; they make up one whole, one eternal word by which He speaks to us. This is that secret ineffable which has breadth, length, depth, and height. From the Annunciation to the Ascension is one continuous unfolding of His love: His humiliation as God and patience as man, His subjection to authority, His endurance of contradictions, His long suffering of sinners, the burden of the Cross and the sharpness of Calvary, the scorn and desolation, and after this the humiliation of death and the dishonour of the grave. He who bare all this being God, and we for whom He bare it sinners, this is the only tongue mighty to utter that which is beyond the speech of men and angels.
II. But further the language of His love is twofold: both without and within. He not only reveals it by His Passion to us, but also by His presence in us. And this is the Divine capacity by which alone we can understand it. He alone can bring us within His holy place, for there is no other sight which sees love but love; love alone can measure love, can perceive, can feel, it. He has been teaching us His love by making us love Him. There is no other way. Till we love Him, all is dark. When we have turned or inclined towards Him, He has revealed Himself waiting to be gracious, overwhelming us with a consciousness of tender care and of love that nothing can estrange. He reveals this love (1) to those who have faithfully obeyed the grace of their regeneration; (2) to all who habitually and devoutly communicate in the sacrament of His Passion; (3) to all who are truly penitent.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 217.
Eph 3:19
The deepest thoughts of the heart of a spiritual man are sure to come out in his prayer. Hear a man of God pray, and you hear the real man speaking. And when such an Apostle as Paul prays, we may well be all attention to catch every syllable. His prayer is an ascending one. Each petition rises higher than the preceding, and meditating on this prayer is something like ascending an Alpine peak. (1) You will see that, in order that a man may be filled with all the fulness of God, there must be an inward strengthening. There are spiritual faculties as well as mental, and it is absolutely necessary that these should be strengthened by the Holy Ghost if we are to apprehend anything of Christ in all His fulness. The Spirit of God takes us down, if I may so express it, to the shore of the ocean of redeeming love, and as the soul drinks it in new life and new power flow into every part of the spiritual system. (2) Then following that first petition comes "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith," that is, that, by an ever-acting faith on our part, a whole Christ may be received and a whole Christ may be retained within the soul. How many there are who only know what it is to have a Christ in the Bible. They know what it is to have a portrait of Christ; and they gaze with rapture upon it, and yet know very little of what the Apostle meant when he said, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts," that is, that He may be no mere portrait, no mere bright idea, but that enshrined within your soul there may be a living Lord. Then you see how naturally comes the following petition: "That ye may be filled with all the fulness of God."
I. Consider what it is to be filled with all the fulness of God. I take it that it is to have as much of God within us as our nature will contain, to be as full of God as the Temple of old was full of Jehovah’s presence. The Apostle prays that the Ephesians may have God in the chambers of imagery, God in their motives, God in their meditations, God in their contemplations, God filling up their entire manhood.
II. There is a vast difference between the incommunicable fulness of Christ and that fulness which He has on purpose to bestow it upon His people. There is a fulness of God which it were blasphemy for us to think of as our own or to ask for; whilst, on the other hand, there is a fulness in Christ that it is sinful on our part not to expect to receive. The measure of a man’s power over others is in proportion to the measure with which he is filled with God.
A. G. Brown, Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 1096.
These words represent—
I. A large receptive capacity on the part of Christians.
II. God the standard, while the source and cause, of completeness.
III. A degree of approximation to that standard now attainable.
S. Martin, Rain upon the Mown Grass, p. 304.
References: Eph 3:19.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii., No. 455; vol. xxix., No. 1755; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 88; H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, The Life of Duty, vol. ii., p. 137; E. Johnson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 305; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 356; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vii., p. 346; vol. ix., p. 316; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, pp. 127-129; S. Leathes, Church Sermons, vol. ii., p. 337; A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart, p. 53; A. Fletcher, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. x., p. 53. Eph 3:20.—Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 105.
Eph 3:20-21
I. The central thought in this passage is the ability and willingness of God in Christ Jesus to do according to every possible measure of human need at every possible time. If we realised this, what a changed aspect it would give to this poor life of ours! How small and worthless would be the things that charm us most. How bravely and calmly we should bear the trials of our life. How well we should get rid of all this fear and doubt and gloom about tomorrow which darkens our today. How hard we should be able to work, with a pulse in every finger and a hope in every word, as we tell the young people for whom our heart’s desire is that they shall be saved, "God is able."
II. In this remarkable verse we have a wonderful instance of Paul’s cumulative way of speaking. The way in which Paul moves upward in his passion struck me once when I was in Wales. I was moving up a high and rocky slope. First of all it led me through a meadow; after the meadow there was an upward pathway through a wood; up a little higher I caught a gleam of the river beyond; higher still I saw the scraggy rocks and tall hills behind; higher still I saw the golden cornfields at their feet; and still higher went I, until right away yonder on the horizon I saw the black-capped mountains higher than them all; and still I had to rise, and rising, at last I stood upon the summit, and said as I looked round, "This is perfection." But it was not, for on turning in one direction I perceived a sight I had not caught before. What do you think it was? It was a glimpse of the infinite sea stretching away beyond all ken, to meet the infinite sky. Paul gets up to that height, and then he wants a pair of wings to fly with. And then I come back again, and I say to myself, "This text is for me.’
J. Jackson Wray, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 297.
References: Eph 3:20, Eph 3:21.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1266; H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 1870, p. 619; J. Duncan, The Pulpit and Communion Table, p. 406; A. Maclaren, The Secret of Power, p. 130. Eph 4:1.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, The Life of Duty, vol. ii., p. 146; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. vii., p. 145; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. x., p. 36. Eph 4:2.—F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 65.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain Section 2. (Eph 3:1-13.)
Section 2. (Eph 3:1-13.)
The ministry of the mystery.
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We now come to the ministry of the mystery, with the distinct declaration of its being truth absolutely new, so that we are not to confound it with anything in the Old Testament, save, of course, what may be typically given there; but types need their explanation and therefore are no contradiction to the truth which they contain, being "hid in God" until the time comes for the revelation.
Paul declares here that he himself and no other is the one charged with the commission to declare these things. The grace to the nations connects evidently with this character of his teaching. His place, rejected of men for Christ’s sake, being the seal of his ministry to the Gentiles; grace to the Gentiles was grace in its fullest aspect, and the administration of this grace was manifestly committed to him. The mystery was made known to him by revelation. He had written of it briefly before, (one would say, in the epistle to the Galatians,) although there is no development of the truth made known to him such as he is making known now, but the fact of what God had added to him beyond others is affirmed there and that is what he refers to here, by which, in reading it, they might understand his "intelligence in the mystery of Christ." He is speaking of the way in which he came into this knowledge, not of the contents of the knowledge itself. He was accredited even by the other apostles with that which was beyond them. He now goes on to speak of it as something entirely different from what had ever been revealed before. "In other generations it was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." He unites, after his manner, the names of others along with himself, and these, no doubt, were the dispensers under him of that which was to him, first of all, a personal revelation. This is what is to be understood everywhere in the epistles, as the meaning of those mysteries which characterize in fact, Christianity in what is peculiar to it, -the mystery (not without a reference, no doubt, to the well-known heathen mysteries) was that which was revealed to disciples, which could not be understood apart from this revelation, and which, as revealed indeed, would only be apprehended by faith. It was not anything as yet made known to men at large, as by and by, of course, it will be. There are three things in these mysteries as spoken of here, —
First of all, that the Gentiles should be joint heirs, heirs on equal terms with the Jews, or rather with Jewish believers. This we cannot find, therefore, anywhere in the Old Testament. There are blessings for the nations and the world to come, but the Jew is always the head, and the Gentile the tail; there is no joint heirship, no equality. The heirship itself also is different, therefore, from that which the Old Testament promises revealed. It is in another sphere altogether. The Christian blessings are in heavenly places, and the inheritance, as has been already shown us, is an inheritance with Christ. We are co-heirs in this way, also, in a higher and more wonderful position than the Old Testament ever spoke of for any saints whatever. That is the first point; named, no doubt, first, because it seems most in relation to Old Testament truth, though in fact different. Of heirship the Old Testament certainly spoke, but not in any sense of such a body as the Church is, a joint body, as we may call it, using the same word all through here, which shows us Jews and Gentiles upon the most entire equality, -a body in which Jews and Gentiles are alike members, the body of Christ, of which, of course, we have been already fully assured. There is absolutely nothing that could even give a possible ground of confusion with the Israelitish promises.
The third thing is that Gentiles and Jews are joint partakers of the promises in Christ Jesus by the gospel. Here again, a place in Christ is nowhere spoken of in the Old Testament. Christ is King and Lord of His people. They are never identified with Him as Christians now are said to be. The promise in the Old Testament, therefore, was not such a promise. He calls it promise here, not because we have not the place already, which we have been fully assured we have; but because this, as all else, waits for its full manifestation and perfect blessedness in the eternity to come. Of this gospel, having the joy of such things already to the soul, Paul had become minister "according to the gift of the grace of God given" him, "according to the working of His power." Power indeed was needed to sustain him in the height of such a place as this, to enable him to minister it in full reality, nothing accompanying it which would lessen the blessing in the eyes of men. He adds that this grace has been given to one "less than the least of all saints," a thing which those who know God will realize to be perfectly suited; the weaker the vessel, the more manifest is it that "the excellency of the power" is "of God" and "not of man." The strong language has nothing in it which for him is strained or exaggerated, clearly; but he always has in mind that out of which God drew him, and which for him had manifested itself in the clearest and most perfect grace that could be. The former opposer and persecutor of Christ’s people carries with him ever the remembrance of this. But what a message of good news, of the unsearchable riches of Christ, of things infinite in their character, which, though known surely, yet altogether pass knowledge. The mystery was now, in this way, being dispensed by him, -a mystery hidden from the ages in God, who created all things, and who acts always in that character of power which this necessitates. Once the Creator, He is now the new Creator, a consummation to which all the ages tended, and for which they were preparing the way. Not only to the Gentiles, in fact, was this revelation being made, but angels also, "principalities and powers in heavenly places" were become the witness of "the manifold wisdom of God" now being wrought out through the Church, the purpose of the ages in Christ Jesus.
We are continually apt to forget that there are others than ourselves who are deeply concerned in all this revelation. The earth is not isolated from the rest of God’s creation, but His purpose connects all together and is working for the fullest blessing of all. We miss, how much, when we think, therefore, simply of the insignificance of the earth, as if, almost, that which God did upon it must be proportionately insignificant also; but it is plain that a work has been done here which has been done nowhere else, and which can never be repeated; a work which has displayed God in such a manner that the endless ages of eternity and the widest extent of the universe will be alike filled with it. What things to minister! How suited to it and necessary for one taken up by God in this way, although he joins all Christians with himself, to be admitted to "boldness and access in confidence" to God, by faith in Christ. He beseeches the Ephesians, therefore, not to faint at his tribulations for them, which were, in fact, a cause of glory to them. They were all helping to make the more manifest the "excellency of the power" of all this to be "of God," and He who was in them could not, therefore, be cast down for them.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Reasons for renewing the Prayer for Wisdom
Reasons for renewing the Prayer for Wisdom
1-13. A digression, which, however, could not be spared. As in Eph_1:15, he begins to speak of himself, and this time he explains his unique interest in the conversion of the Gentiles. 'Many of his readers had not seen him, but they must have heard of the special work assigned to him by God, of making known to all the mystery of the ages, so that even angelic powers learn through the Church the manysidedness of the Divine counsels.'
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1. 'It was worth while becoming a prisoner in such a cause' (Phm_1:9, 2Ti_1:8).
2. Again the sentence is broken: cp. Eph_1:13; Eph_4:4, Eph_4:5. His being a prisoner on their behalf suggests a fresh train of thought. If he had been writing to Ephesians only, he could not have said 'if.' Ephesians had heard himself; cp. Col_1:25.
3. Afore in few words] in the first two chapters
5. 'The revelation is quite new; it has been hidden for many generations.' The Apostles and prophets are holy, as the readers are saints (Eph_1:1), as being set apart for God's service; they had accepted St. Paul's doctrine of salvation for the Gentiles. The prophets are the NT. prophets, as in Eph_2:20; Eph_4:11; 1Co_12:28-31.
6. This is the mystery that has been revealed.
7. The Apostle of the Gentiles enlarges on the greatness of his special mission. Thrice here he calls it a grace given to him: cp. Gal_2:7-9; Col_1:24.
8. Unsearchable] inexplorable; that cannot be traced out. Riches] the comprehensiveness and power of the gospel.
9. 'That which for ages has been kept secret from the wisest and holiest is now brought to light for all to see.'
10. It is an amazing thought that, by means of the Church, God's varied wisdom in the scheme of redemption is made known to heavenly beings. 'Angels desire to look into' 'the manifold grace of God' (1Pe_1:12; 1Pe_4:10). 11, 12. God's eternal purpose accomplished in Christ, through faith in whom we have courage to draw near to God. 12. A repetition of Eph_2:18 : cp. Rom_8:38, Rom_8:39.
13. That ye faint not] It might mean 'that I may not faint.' But St. Paul is not afraid of losing heart; he rejoiced in tribulations (Rom_5:8), and took pleasure in weaknesses (2Co_12:10). He is afraid that the Gentiles may lose heart, when they see him persecuted for helping them: they ought rather to glory in this.
Now he returns to Eph_3:1 after his magnificent digression, and at last gives in fulness the prayer for their enlightenment which he began Eph_1:17, It is a very bold intercession.
14-21. Prayer and doxology. 'May they have great spiritual power, may Christ dwell in their hearts, may they know His incomprehensible love, and be filled up to the measure of God's fulness. To Him, who can give in abundance blessings which we cannot even imagine, be glory for ever.'
14. For this cause] because of their union with the Jews in Christ (Eph_2:13-22). The Jews stood to pray (Mat_6:5; Luk_18:11-13), prostration being exceptional; but Christians are said to kneel (Act_7:60; Act_9:40; Act_20:36; Act_21:5), perhaps after Luk_22:41.
15. 'All fatherhood, whether earthly or celestial, derives its name from the Fatherhood of God.'
16. The inner man] is the immaterial part of man's nature, the soul and spirit; 'the outward man' (2Co_4:16) being the flesh.
18. May be able] 'may have full strength to comprehend what is really incomprehensible.' The four dimensions represent the vastneas of the love of Christ towards us.
19. An audacious paradox: 'that ye may be filled up to all the fulness of God,' i.e. to the perfection of the Divine attributes (Mat_5:48).
20. The doxology explains the audacity of the prayer. God can give superabundantly quite inconceivable boons.
21. In the Church by Christ Jesus] RV 'in the Church and in Christ Jesus,' in the Body and in the Head. The Church in this Epistle is always the Church universal, never a local Church. This Church completes the Christ (Eph_1:23), reveals God's wisdom to the angels (Eph_3:10), is, with Christ, the sphere in which God is glorified. It is indeed a glorious Church (Eph_5:27).
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Ministry of Paul for the Edification of the…
The Ministry of Paul for the Edification of the Church.
The revelation of knowledge to Paul:
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v. 1. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
v. 2. if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you ward,
v. 3. how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery, (as I wrote afore in a few words,
v. 4. whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ,)
v. 5. which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,
v. 6. that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partaken of His promise in Christ by the Gospel,
v. 7. whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power.
In connection with the call of the Gentiles, Paul here discusses his apostolic vocation: For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles. It is a very emphatic expression with which Paul opens this chapter. Because his readers, the majority of whom had been Gentiles, had now been brought near, had been made members of the household of God, therefore they should earnestly consider what he urges on them and what he does for them. Paul was at that time bound, a prisoner in Rome, waiting for the disposal of his case before the imperial court. He calls himself the prisoner of Christ in behalf of the Gentiles, because he was suffering this imprisonment for work done in his capacity as minister of Christ, and because it had been principally his proclamation of the Gospel among the Gentiles that had caused his arrest. Both the enmity of the Jews and the suspicion of the Roman government had been drawn down upon Paul because he preached Christ Crucified so fearlessly.
The thought of his apostolic ministry now causes Paul to digress with the purpose of bringing home to the Ephesians the scope and the glory of this ministry: If, indeed, you did hear of the administration of the grace of God given me toward you. Here is a tactful, gentle appeal: If so be that I may assume, if my trust in you was not misplaced; conveying the hope that his words had not been quite forgotten. God’s special gift of grace to Paul was his apostleship among the Gentiles. Of this fact the Ephesian Christians had received information from the mouth of Paul himself; they had witnessed also how he had administered his office in their midst; they had heard, finally, how he was performing the work of his calling in other heathen countries.
The term "gift of God’s grace" is now further explained: That by way of revelation was made known unto me the mystery. Even at the time of his conversion, when the Lord appeared to him on the way to Damascus, He had informed him of his call as apostle to the Gentiles, thereby revealing to him the mystery of his vocation. Paul had received neither the information concerning his call nor the subject matter of his proclamation from men, all this being imparted to him by the immediate action of Christ, Gal 1:12. To this he had referred briefly above, Eph 2:11-22, and he reminds his readers: By which, in accordance with which, when you read it, you get an idea of my understanding in the mystery of Christ. The paragraph concerning the gathering of the Church of Christ, the building of the holy temple of God, might serve as a criterion or standard, according to which, by means of which, the Ephesians would be enabled to judge, to get some idea of Paul’s insight, of his critical understanding in the mystery relating to Christ, in the message of salvation and grace in Christ, especially as it concerned the Gentiles, Col 1:27; Col 4:3.
Of this mystery or message Paul writes: Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as now it was revealed to His holy apostles and prophets through the Spirit. The mystery relating to Christ as the Savior of mankind was indeed revealed to the patriarchs and prophets of old in type and prophecy. But in the times of the Old Testament generations the message was not generally known, nor was it so clear and unmistakable as in the time of the present fulfillment. To His holy apostles, who were incidentally prophets foretelling the future, God revealed the glorious facts concerning salvation in Christ through His Holy Spirit. By the teaching of the Spirit these men gained a full understanding of the relation between prophecy and fulfillment, of the ministry of Christ, Luk 24:44-48, of the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection, 1Co 15:1-58, and many other facts connected with the life and work of the Redeemer.
The content of the mystery as it specifically concerned the Gentiles, was: That the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and fellow-members and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. The apostle piles up the terms in order to emphasize as strongly as possible the full equality of the Gentile Christians with those of Jewish descent. The Gentiles are heirs with the members of believing Israel, Rom 8:17, of all the blessings held out to the children; they belong jointly to the same body as the Jewish Christians, to the body of Christ; the same promise of eternal salvation in Christ Jesus is extended to them through the preaching of the Gospel. "The three terms describe the Gentiles, therefore, first generally as heirs together with the believing Jews in all things, and then more particularly as belonging equally with them to the same corporate body and sharing equally with them in the Messianic promise."
Paul is careful to avoid even the suggestion of smug self-congratulation in the matter of his office: Of which (Gospel) I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given me according to the operation of His power. Even the remotest form of supercilious bearing was unbearable to the apostle, excelling, as he did, in meekness. He became a minister of the Gospel, a servant, not because of any personal merit, but by reason of the free gift of God’s grace. He considered his office a gift of which he was not worthy. And it was not his own wisdom, personal magnetism, or any other talent that was effective in his work, but the power of God. The transcendent greatness of God’s gracious power is efficacious as well in those that preach the Gospel as in those that hear and believe it. Mark: This fact, that the gift of teaching is bestowed, "not according to the receptivity of the recipient, but according to the efficiency of the Giver," should be kept in mind by all members of the Church that are engaged in the work of teaching the Gospel.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
To make clear the hidden truth about the church to believers, Paul refers back to the oneness of Jews and Gentiles and the temple of which believers are now a part.
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Because of this
"Because of God's grace to you"
the prisoner of Christ Jesus
"the one whom Christ Jesus has put in prison"
the stewardship of the grace of God that was given to me for you
"the responsibility that God gave me to bring his grace to you"
translationWords
Paul
Jesus
Gentile
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:1-13 Paul now describes his own role in God’s…
3:1-13 Paul now describes his own role in God’s eternal plan: to proclaim God’s grace to the Gentiles.
3:1 When I think of all this: Paul has written about the amazing salvation that God’s grace has brought to undeserving sinners who are under his judgment, and about the incredible revelation that Gentiles can also be included in God’s new family, the people of God (chs 1–2). • a prisoner of Christ Jesus: Paul wrote this letter while imprisoned for his witness to Christ among the Gentiles.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.