Paul the Preacher to the Gentiles

EPHESIANS

Chapter 3

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

3:1–13 Having saved people individually by his grace (2:1–10), and having reconciled them to each other as well as to himself through the sacrificial death of Christ (2:11–22), God also now unites them on an equal basis in one body, the church. This step in God’s eternal plan was not fully revealed in previous times. Paul calls it a “mystery.” (CSB)

The Early Church, surprisingly, did not universally approve of the mission to the Gentiles (cf. Acts 15). Paul urges that Christ Himself commissioned him to fulfill God’s plan to bring the Gentiles the message of salvation through faith apart from works. (TLSB)

3:1 For this reason. Because of all that God has done, explained in the preceding several verses. (CSB)

τούτου χάριν—The accusative of χάρις used as a preposition following a genitive noun (or pronoun) can indicate either purpose or cause, but here it is surely the latter: “for this reason.” τούτου, “this,” refers to an immediately preceding antecedent, probably the entire preceding chapter or pericope (2:1–22 or 2:11–22). But what precisely is the cause, and what is its result? The antecedent and meaning are not clear until the broken sentence, which is interrupted by 3:2–13, reaches its completion in 3:14: “for this reason I bend my knees to the Father …” Thus, the meaning is that because of the great act of reconciliation Christ effected between Gentile, Jew, and God (2:11–22), p 353 Paul is moved to intercessory and doxological prayer (3:14–21). In between, Paul pursues a most significant digression (3:2–13). (CC)

Paul is referring to the central thought developed in chapter 2, namely, the unity in Christ that brings Jews and Gentiles together into one church. He is intending to ask God to enlighten the Ephesians, to bring them to understand ever more fully just how great Christ’s love for them actually is. Paul’s prayer will end with the request that God enable the Ephesians “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (V. 18). (PBC)

Paul became a prisoner because he took the Gospel to the Gentiles. Jewish accusers who were opposed to the Gospel and especially any efforts to incorporate the Gentiles were responsible for Paul’s arrest. There are repeated references in the history of the early church of hatred between the Jews and the Gentiles (see Acts 22:21-24; 26:12-23). (LL)

prisoner. Apparently Paul was under house arrest at this time (see Ac 28:16, 30). (CSB)

Arrested in AD 58 to protect him from a Jewish mob in the temple (Acts 21:27-36), Paul spent a year and a half in prison in Caesarea (Acts 23:23-26:32) and two years under house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:30). Paul rejoiced to be put on trial for the sake of the Gospel, hoping to gain legal freedom to preach it to the Gentiles (2 Tim. 2:9-10). He referred to his suffering more than once but qualified it as fulfilling the Lord’s purposes for his life and others. (TLSB)

For the first time in the epistle, its character as a Prison Letter comes to the fore. From Paul’s perspective, what occasioned his writing was his personal circumstances as a suffering apostle and his concern for the impact this news was having on the Ephesians. It is likely that Paul’s enemies made great hay of his confinement, suggesting that it proved the unreliability of his message. Paul is therefore deeply concerned that his imprisonment might lead to the Ephesians’ falling away from the Gospel (cf. 2 Tim 1:15). Thus, the first task he approaches in this pericope is to provide a defense and explanation of his suffering. If indeed it is also true, as we have suggested, that the Ephesians felt a twofold personal responsibility for Paul’s imprisonment, Paul was further compelled to provide an alternate perspective. He was certainly in prison, first, because of Jewish hostility over his Law-free Gospel, his proclamation of salvation by grace through faith to Gentiles such as the Ephesians. It was true, second, that the visit of Trophimus the Ephesian to the city of Jerusalem gave Paul’s hostile Jewish foes an excuse to seek his death (Acts 21:28–29).

But these were not the ultimate reasons for the confinement of one who called himself “the prisoner of Christ Jesus” (3:1). This multifaceted genitive (τοῦ Χριστοῦ) implies not only that he is in prison because the Lord wills it but also that ultimately he is not bound by chains but by Christ. In Greco-Roman culture there was no honor in slavery (though in Eastern religions it was more common to think of oneself as the deity’s slave, as also in the OT).119 But Paul unabashedly calls himself δοῦλος Χριστοῦ, “Christ’s slave,” even when not physically restrained. When that bond leads him into shackles, Paul views them as a badge of honor, as an outward symbol of his relationship to Christ, so that he can rejoice to be “an ambassador in chains” (6:20). (CC)

When in jail in Philippi, Paul and Silas testified to their reinterpretation of such suffering by singing hymns and praying out loud (Acts 16:25). The other prisoners were listening to them, presumably marveling at the reaction imprisonment had produced in these ambassadors of Christ. When an earthquake knocked down the walls, the jailer was surprised to find Paul and Silas still there—for it was not the walls that held these prisoners of Christ. The jailer’s subsequent faith and Baptism (Acts 16:30–33) illustrate the kind of glory that Paul’s suffering can bring to others (Eph 3:13). To the same Philippians Paul p 381 would later write that his Roman imprisonment was serving “for the advancement of the Gospel,” that his imprisonment had become widely known as “in Christ,” and that the brothers were thereby emboldened to speak the Word without fear (Phil 1:12–14). This is not an occasional thought in Paul’s writings, but a persistent interpretation of his ministry. To the Corinthians he reflects deeply on his (and his apostolic colleagues’) ongoing sufferings and offers three complementary interpretations:

• “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the extraordinary power might be [shown to be] from God and not from us” (2 Cor 4:7).

• “We are always being given over to death because of Jesus, that also the life of Jesus might be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor 4:11).

• “So death is at work in us, but life in you” (2 Cor 4:12).

Thus, first, Paul’s suffering demonstrates that the power of his message lies not in his own personal abilities or success, but in the God whose Word it is. Second, as an agent of Christ, Paul not only speaks Christ’s words but also displays Christ’s death and life in his own body. And third, as Christ’s victory over death brought life to others, so the suffering of his agents would bring life to those they serve. (CC)

These thoughts crystalize in the succinct and profound Colossian parallel that stands in the background of our text: “now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and I take my turn in filling up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ in my flesh for the sake of his body, which is the church” (Col 1:24). Clearly this text should not be interpreted as suggesting that the sufferings of Christ were incomplete from the perspective of accomplishing our salvation; Christ himself declared from the cross: τετέλεσται, “it has been brought to completion” (Jn 19:30). Yet that accomplishment (objective justification) needed to be proclaimed to the world and appropriated in faith (subjective justification). The apostolic agents of that proclamation were not only promised that they would speak for Christ and be received as Christ but also warned that they would be rejected as he was first rejected (Lk 10:16). This is in the p 382 nature of being Christ’s ambassador (Eph 6:20). Paul’s message and life could not be separated. His suffering was a veritable picture of the Gospel itself. His apostleship was made most clear in his suffering for the Gospel. (CC)

Recall that this letter to the Ephesians was written while Paul was detained in Rome, awaiting trial for his Christian activity. He speaks of himself as imprisoned “for the sake of you Gentile.” That expression requires a bit more explanation, so before he begins his prayer, he digresses to show just how his ministry to Gentiles fits in with God’s eternal plan. (PBC)

He was probably waiting for his audience with Caesar Nero. For Paul, it was a privilege to suffer the inconvenience or even life-threatening crisis for the sake of his relationship with Christ. In this he was one with Christ who had suffered for him, and he knew his suffering would produce benefits for the church. Newspapers in 1993 carried the story of a man in Miami who was suing both his church and his pastor to get back the offerings from the previous year. The man’s pastor had promised benefits and blessings if members would tithe their income for the Lord’s work. The man tithed. The blessings didn’t come. He wanted his money back. How this attitude differs from that of St. Paul. Paul didn’t approach his faith from the perspective of gain, but from the perspective of service and sacrifice. (LL)

ἐγὼ Παῦλος ὁ δέσμιος τοῦ Χριστοῦ [Ἰησοῦ]—This is the first of three references in the letter to Paul’s imprisonment (3:1; 4:1; 6:20). The pronoun ἐγώ is probably not emphatic, but simply serves to introduce the predicate Παῦλος ὁ δέσμιος “I, Paul, the prisoner.” ὁ δέσμιος, “the prisoner,” is definite because it stands in apposition to a proper noun, Παῦλος. Yet there is also a sense that Paul is “the prisoner [par excellence],” as he may be called “the apostle of Christ Jesus” (1:1). He virtually holds an office of prisoner. Paul’s suffering is not only Christlike but also continues the sufferings of Christ himself: “now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and I take my turn in filling up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ in my flesh for the sake of his body, which is the church” (Col 1:24; cf. Acts 5:41). These explanatory words from Colossians introduce the text parallel to our pericope, in which Paul explains the nature of his apostolic calling (Col 1:24–29). To suffer is part of the commission given him by Christ (Acts 9:16)—thus, he is Christ’s prisoner, not Caesar’s. He is bound to do what Christ has given him to do (thus, he is δοῦλος Χριστοῦ, “Christ’s slave,” Rom 1:1; Gal 1:10; Phil 1:1). His imprisonment advances the proclamation of the Gospel (Phil 1:12–17). His suffering is almost vicarious, as it brings Gospel blessings to his flock (2 Cor 1:6; 4:12). This is the astonishing extent to which the apostolic office is representative of Christ. Paul frequently reminds his readers/listeners of his suffering for the sake of Christ and the Gospel as a mark of the genuineness of his office and message, to entreat their prayers for him—and to encourage them in their own suffering (Phil 1:7; Col 1:24; 4:3, 18; 2 Tim 1:8; 2:9; Philemon 1, 9–10, 13). For though Paul in his office is the supreme example of such Christ-like suffering, he is not completely unique. It is a role carried on by others who take up the apostolic ministry (2 Tim 1:8), just as the cross is the mark of all who follow Christ (Mt 16:24; Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23; Rom 5:3; 8:17–18; 2 Cor 1:6–7). (CC)

The omission of Ἰησοῦ in the first hand of א and D, together with F G (365) pc samss; MVict, is balanced by its inclusion in the earliest text, 46, the first correctors of א and D, as well as A and B and a host of significant early and late manuscripts. The omission is surely the more difficult (and therefore more likely to be original) reading; it is easier to understand scribes adding the name than taking it away (perhaps harmonizing it to Philemon 1, 9). Yet the overwhelming manuscript evidence in favor of its inclusion led the NA27 editors to include it in brackets, indicating the decision is uncertain. (CC)

of Christ. Paul’s physical imprisonment was because he obeyed Christ in spite of opposition. After this verse Paul breaks his train of thought to explain the “mystery” (v. 4). He resumes his initial thought in v. 14. (CSB)

FOR THE SAKE OF YOU GENTILES – ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν combines the senses of “because of you” and “for your benefit.” Paul later uses the same preposition to indicate Christ’s sacrificial death “for us” (5:2; see also 5:25). The prepositional phrase recalls Paul’s arrest, which was on the charge that he had violated the boundary marker in the temple that prohibited Gentiles from entering the inner courts; “Trophimus the Ephesian” was specifically cited (Acts 21:28–29). But it also alludes to Paul’s intention to defend “my Gospel” (2 Tim 2:8–9), with his specific mandate to preach it to the Gentiles (Acts 26:16–18). His arrest would enable him to carry this legal defense and Gospel proclamation all the way to Rome (Acts 19:21; 23:11; 26:32; 27:24; 28:30–31), and (assuming his acquittal and release) from there to proceed in his mission to the Gentile lands to the west, as far as Spain (Rom 15:24, 28). It is the mention of “you Gentiles” (Eph 3:1) that spurs Paul’s excursus into the uniqueness of his apostolic mandate that occupies this pericope. The sentence is interrupted (anacoluthon), to resume in 3:14. (CC)