FOR THIS REASON I, PAUL, THE
PRISONER OF CHRIST JESUS: Toutou charin ego Paulos o desmios tou
Christou [Iesou]: (2 Corinthians
10:1;
Galatians 5:2)
(4:1;
6:20;
Luke 21:12;
Acts 21:33;
26:29;
28:17-20;
2 Corinthians 11:23;
Philippians 1:7;
Philippians 1:13-16;
Colossians 1:24;
4:3,18;
2 Timothy 1:8,16;
2:9;
Philemon 1:1,9;
Revelation 2:10)
Why is Paul
spending so much time explaining to the Gentiles their "before/after"
picture and emphasizing their place of equality with the Jews in one
body, the body of Christ? It is because he wants to be sure that the
Gentile believers don't take their new found salvation for granted
(which has to a large extent occurred in the church in America, some of
whom don't even know that Jesus was a Jew, much less that the early
church was virtually all Jewish) so that they have a proper appreciation
and sense of gratitude for their salvation. Paul knows that when the
Gentiles grasp these truths, this truth has the potential to radically
impact their conduct, so that they are motivated to walk worth of their
new calling in Christ and not according to their former corrupt way as
pagans. For many Gentile believers, there is a tendency to "skim over"
the doctrinal truths in the first three chapters (except our favorite
verses like Eph 2:8-9) so that we can get into the "practical" section
of Ephesians 4-6. The problem is that the character of our walk in the
last 3 chapters is intimately related to a proper understanding of the
doctrinal truth in the first 3 chapters. We love to talk about being
filled with the Spirit, but don't spend much time appreciating the
mystery of Christ which makes it possible to even be filled with the
Spirit!
For this reason
- refers back to the building together of the saints - "seeing that
you (Jew and Gentile) are being built together". Because you
Gentiles are fellow citizens with God’s people, and especially because
you Ephesians are included in the temple of God, a dwelling of God.
Ray Stedman
explains "for this reason" writing that...
Sometimes it is difficult for those
who do not read Greek to see how Paul builds his letters. This is
particularly true of this passage, because Paul begins "For this reason
..." -- but he doesn't give the reason toward which he is moving until
Verse 13! This is the way the apostle's mind worked. He starts out to
say one thing but then is captured by the truth of something else he is
going to say. So he begins to bring it in ahead of time. Then he is
carried along from one truth to another until finally he gets back to
what he started to say in the beginning. If you read it this way: "For
this reason..." then skip down to Verse 13: "... I ask you not to lose
heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory," you will
understand what he is trying to say in the intervening sentences. (Ephesians 3:1-6:
Great Mystery)
William Barclay
writes that...
To understand the connection of
thought in this passage it has to be noted that verses 2–13 are one
long parenthesis. The for this cause of verse 14 takes up again and
resumes the for this cause of verse 1. Someone has spoken of Paul’s
habit of “going off at a word.” A single word or idea can send his
thoughts off at a tangent. When he speaks of himself as “the prisoner
of Christ,” it makes him think of the universal love of God and of his
part in bringing that love to the Gentiles. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press)
Wayne Barber
comments on "for this reason" writing that...
in 3:1. Paul says, "For this
reason I, Paul." I want to stop right there. If you move down to verse
14, he uses the exact terminology: "For this reason, I bow my knees
before the Father." Paul starts off to pray in chapter 3, but
immediately he backs away. Before he prays, he wants them to understand
something. Verses 2-13 could be put in parenthesis. He
starts his prayer, suddenly stops, and then starts up again in verse 14.
Why does he do that? Well, he wants to tell them of a mystery that has
been revealed to his heart. The bottom line is that he is going to pray
that what has been revealed to him will be revealed to them. That is
what gives us our title, "God’s Divine Mystery." Let me give you a
little outline of verses 1-13 that might help you.
Ephesians 3:1-3: Mystery
revealed to him
Ephesians 3:4-6: Explanation of mystery revealed
Ephesians 3:7-9: Defense of preaching of revelation of the mystery
Ephesians 3:10-13: Proclamation of results of preaching the mystery
Ephesians 3:14-21: Prelude to prayer
You see again that he is going to
pray that God would reveal to them what God had already revealed to him.
(Ephesians 3:1-3 God's Divine Mystery - 1)
In regard to
Ephesians 3:2-13 being a parenthesis note that verse 1 begins with his
status as prisoner ("the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you
Gentiles") and that this same thought is picked up again in verse 13
("my tribulations on your behalf"). This suggests that Paul is
continuing the same thought that broke off from verse 1 to verse 2 as he
began to elaborate on the mystery in verses 2-12. A number of
commentators feel that Paul was on the verge of praying in verse 1 but
was inspired to first explain the mystery after which he then returned
to his desire to pray. Note that he had just taught about their being
built into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Then he prays that
they be strengthened so that Christ might dwell (verb form of the
noun "dwelling") in their heart.
The following
alliterative outline of Ephesians 3 is modified from John Phillips (Exploring
Ephesians)
1. Paul as a Prisoner for the
Truth (Eph 3:1)
2. Paul as a Pioneer of the Truth (Eph 3:2-4)
a. The Truth
Entrusted to Him (Eph 3:2)
b. The Truth Enlightening to Him (Eph 3:3-4)
i. Communicated To Him (Eph 3:3a)
ii. Communicated By Him (Eph 3:3b-4)
3. Paul as a Partner in the Truth (Eph 3:5-6)
a. How the Truth Was Concealed (Eph 3:5a)
b. How the Truth Was Revealed (Eph 3:5b-6)
4. Paul as a Propagator of the Truth (Eph 3:7-9)
a. The Working of It (Eph 3:7)
b. The Wonder of It (Eph 3:8a)
c. The Wealth of It (Eph 3:8b-9)
i. Its Hidden Resources (Eph 3:8b)
ii. Its Heavenly Resources (Eph 3:9)
Warren Wiersbe
nicely alliterates Ephesians 3 as...
A PURPOSE - "For this reason"
Ephesians 3:1, 14
A PARENTHESIS - Mystery of the Church
Ephesians 3:2-13
A PRAYER - Ephesians 3:14-21
MacDonald
adds that "for this reason"...
looks back to what he had just
been saying about the place of privilege into which believing Gentiles
are brought as a result of their union with Christ. (MacDonald,
W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
Prisoner (1198)
(desmios from desméo = bind from desmos = bind,
chain) is a captive or one who is bound or who is in bonds. Prisoners in
Paul's day often had time to think, read, write, etc. (see comments
below)
Most agree that
Paul wrote this epistle during his first Roman imprisonment during which
he was under house arrest, and yet he
describes himself not as a prisoner of Rome but of Christ
Jesus. Paul understood his imprisonment as God's will for him.
Paul evidently
wrote this epistle while he was imprisoned in Rome "for the hope of
Israel" as Luke records in Acts quoting Paul's defense of his
imprisonment before the leading men of Jerusalem writing...
"For this reason therefore, I
requested to see you and to speak with you, for I am wearing this chain
for the sake of the hope of Israel." (Acts 28:20)
Paul had been a
prisoner ever since he was taken captive in Jerusalem at the command of
the Jewish leaders, Luke records that...
the commander came up and took hold
of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he began asking
who he was and what he had done. (Acts 21:33).
For at least two
years, however, he was given a certain amount of freedom Luke recording
that Paul...
"stayed two full years in his own
rented quarters, and was welcoming all who came to him preaching the
kingdom of God, and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all
openness, unhindered. (Acts 28:30-31
As previously
discussed it was most likely during this time of "house arrest" that he
wrote the letter to the Ephesians.
Clearly Paul was a prisoner of men
(probably in Rome) but he viewed his circumstances from a divine
perspective. Thus while he was the prisoner of the Romans, in his mind
he was really the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Paul recognized that
it is by the sovereignty of God that he was where he was. He was the
prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles. Why was he there? Because God
had appointed him an Apostle to bring the ministry of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. As he explains at the end of this letter
he was "an ambassador in chains" because he had proclaimed "the mystery
of the gospel" (See notes
Ephesians 6:19;
6:20)
Ray Stedman
writes that Paul was apparently...
in Rome, a prisoner of Caesar,
awaiting trial before Nero. But never once does he say that he is a
prisoner of Caesar; it is always "a prisoner of Christ Jesus." The
reason is obvious when you read his letters. He saw that Caesar was not
the one who had the final say about him; Jesus did. The duration of his
confinement was not determined by Caesar, but by the Lord Jesus. As Paul
came to understand the One whom he served, he knew that Jesus is in
control of history. He saw him as John did in the book of Revelation --
as sitting on his throne, holding the reins of government in his hands.
He is the One who opens, and no man shuts, who shuts, and no man opens,
who orders, and his will is carried out. Paul knew, therefore, that
anytime the Lord Jesus decided Paul's imprisonment would be of no
further value, he would be set free, that when the Lord Jesus spoke,
Caesar acted. Therefore, he never saw himself as being the prisoner of
Caesar. This is a tremendous lesson to us, who sometimes become worried
and anxious about what the political powers-that-be are doing in the
world today. Would that we had the faith of this mighty apostle who
understood so clearly that Caesar was not in control; Jesus is. (Ephesians 3:1-6:
Great Mystery)
Ruth Paxson
puts it well writing that...
Paul was in a Roman prison when
he wrote this epistle, but one would never know it. There is no smell of
a prison in Ephesians. As you open the book it is just like going into
some vast, open expanse and breathing the fresh air of heaven. There is
no clank of prison chains to be heard, for Paul is not bound in spirit.
He is there as the prisoner of Rome, but this he will not admit, and
claims to be "the prisoner of Jesus Christ." What is the secret of such
victorious otherworldliness? Paul's spirit is with Christ in the
heavenlies though his body languishes in that foul Roman prison. (Paxson,
R: The Wealth of the Christian)
William Barclay in noting that
Paul never thought of himself as the prisoner of Rome but of Christ adds
this note...
One’s point of view makes all the
difference in the world. There is a famous story of the days when Sir
Christopher Wren was building St. Paul’s Cathedral. On one occasion he
was making a tour of the work in progress. He came upon a man at work
and asked him: “What are you doing?” The man said: “I am cutting this
stone to a certain size and shape.” He came to a second man and asked
him what he was doing. The man said: “I am earning so much money at my
work.” He came to a third man at work and asked him what he was doing.
The man paused for a moment, straightened himself and answered: “I am
helping Sir Christopher Wren build St. Paul’s Cathedral.”
If a man is in prison for some great
cause he may either grumblingly regard himself as an ill-used creature,
or he may radiantly regard himself as the standard-bearer of some great
cause. The one regards his prison as a penance; the other regards it as
a privilege. When we are undergoing hardship, unpopularity, material
loss for the sake of Christian principles we may either regard ourselves
as the victims of men or as the champions of Christ. Paul is our
example; he regarded himself, not as the prisoner of Nero, but as the
prisoner of Christ. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press)
John Phillips writes that...
The Jews were infuriated when Paul
taught that believing Gentiles were full members of God's family and the
fellowship of saints. The Jews' national pride was stung. Even in the
church many Jewish believers thought that Gentiles should become Jews in
order to be Christians, or at least they should be regarded as
second-class citizens in the kingdom. Paul's emancipating gospel annoyed
many Jews, even within the church. They disliked his wholehearted
acceptance of Gentiles into the church, free from all Jewish laws,
traditions, and customs. They resented his vocal and tireless
championship of the Gentile believers' cause. They felt threatened by
his zealous, far-reaching efforts to bring more and more Gentiles into
the church. The vast majority of unbelieving Jews regarded Paul with
horror and considered him a dangerous heretic. Paul, however, did not
criticize the Jews for opposing him. He knew where they were coming
from; he had been there himself. (Phillips,
J. Exploring Ephesians)
FOR THE SAKE OF YOU
GENTILES: huper humon ton ethnon: (Galatians
5:11;
Colossians 1:24;
1 Thessalonians 2:15,16;
2 Timothy 2:10)
For the sake of
(5228)
(huper) means on behalf of or in place of. He explains the
reason for his imprisonment - for the sake of you Gentiles. In
fact, the event that triggered Paul's arrest and shipment to Rome for
trial before Caesar was a false charge that he had taken Trophimus, an
Ephesian, into area of the temple area that was out of bounds for
Gentiles (Acts 21:29). (See notes on
Ephesians 2:18)
Paul was a
prisoner because he believed in God’s previously undisclosed and unknown
program of uniting believing Jews and Gentiles into one new body, the
church. The non-believing Jews in Paul’s day considered the Gentiles
("the Uncircumcision") dogs,” but some of the believing Jews did not
have a much better attitude toward their Gentiles brothers in the faith.
At the time of
Paul's salvation Christ commissioned him to go to the Gentiles,
declaring...
Arise, and stand on your feet; for
this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a
witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the
things in which I will appear to you delivering you from the Jewish
people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their
eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion
of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and
an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'
(Acts 26:16-18)
Paul was a man on
mission. He has left an example of single minded determination to
fulfill the call of God on his life. We do well to imitate his zeal.
Live as you will wish to have lived after you are dead or as
Adoniram Judson the great missionary to
Burma said
"The motto of every missionary,
whether preacher, printer, or schoolmaster, ought to be 'Devoted for
life.'”
We too can end the Christian race
well, even if we began late, started slow, or faltered along the way.
The secret is to stay true to Christ to the last moment.
Gentiles
(1484)
(ethnos) refers to non-Jews or the heathen. When ethnos
is preceded by the definite article
("the") in the Greek, it means "the nations" which is synonymous
with the Gentiles marking them out as a distinct class. The
Gentiles implies those who practice idolatry and are ignorant of the
true God.
All of mankind can be divided into
Jew and Gentile and thus "Gentile" is a synonym for anyone who is
non-Jew, who is not a member of the "chosen people". The Hebrew word
corresponding to Gentile is goyim. From Genesis 12 through
Malachi 4 the majority of the Scriptures were about God's dealings with
the Jews, while Gentiles were mentioned only as they interacted with the
Jews. The NT does have more mention of the Gentiles after the formation
of the Church but after the church, Christ's Bride has been
raptured to heaven, God will resume His program with Israel nationally.
We find this described in the book of the Revelation (where there is no
mention of the church after Revelation 3). Many people are surprised to
discover that the Revelation of Jesus Christ has a heavy emphasis on
Israel, which explains why there are over 200 OT quotes or allusions to
OT passages.
As Wayne Barber
reminds us...
We are Gentiles today, and we live in
a country that has a Gentile mentality. We think it started with us. It
didn’t start with us, we were brought in at the appropriate time. We
were shut out until Acts 8 when God singled out the minister named Paul,
to preach the message to the Gentiles. The center of evangelism shifted
from Jerusalem to Antioch, and then the message went out into all the
world that any man, whether Jew or Gentile, can come in through the Lord
Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 3:1-9 God's Divine Mystery - 2)
Ray Stedman
reminds of the background from Paul's imprisonment writing that...
Paul cites some reasons for his
imprisonment. The first is that he was a prisoner on behalf of the
Gentiles. This refers not only to the fact that his arrest had come
about because he was preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, but also to
the fact that it benefited the Gentiles. Do not forget that the reason
Paul was charged by the Jews with sedition against the emperor was
because they were so angry that he would carry any message from God to
the Gentiles. Jewish scruples and prejudices were terribly offended by
the fact that Paul had the nerve, the effrontery, to say to the Jews
that the Gentiles were received by God equally as they, that the
Gentiles could have equal standing before him. When Paul spoke to the
Jewish mob in his own defense, after he was arrested in the temple
courts, the thing which triggered their renewed ire was the word
Gentile in his message.
(Ed note: Luke 22:21-23
records Paul's statement of what Jesus told him to do "'Go! For I will
send you far away to the Gentiles.'" And they [Jewish audience] listened
to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said,
"Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to
live!" And as they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and
tossing dust into the air...)
They had been listening carefully to
him as he spoke of his conversion, of how he had been called by God,
until he stated that he had been sent out unto the Gentiles. Then all
hell broke loose again. They mobbed him and would have lynched him on
the spot had it not been for the intervention of the Roman guard. So it
was because of this great message that he was a prisoner. (Ephesians 3:1-6:
Great Mystery)
><> ><> ><>
Our Daily Bread
devotional "Whose Prisoner?"...
A story is told of Scottish minister
Alexander Whyte, who was able to look at the bleakest situation and yet
find something to be thankful for. On a dark Sunday morning when the
weather was freezing, wet, and stormy, one of his deacons whispered,
“I am sure the preacher won’t be able
to thank God for anything on a day like this. It’s absolutely horrible
outside!”
The pastor began the
service by praying,
“We thank Thee, O God, that the weather is not
always like this.”
The apostle Paul also saw the best in every situation. Consider his
circumstances as he wrote to the church in Ephesus while he awaited
trial before the Roman emperor Nero. Most people would have concluded
that he was a prisoner of Rome. But Paul saw himself as a prisoner of
Christ. He thought of his hardship as an opportunity to bring the gospel
to the Gentiles.
These words of Paul should challenge us:
“To me, who am less than the least of
all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8).
Paul, a prisoner of Christ, saw
himself as being given the privilege to serve God and present the
“riches of Christ” to many.
Whose prisoner are we? —Albert Lee (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
Afflictions may
test me,
They cannot destroy;
One glimpse of Thy love
Turns them all into joy. —Willett
The trials that imprison you need not limit God’s work in you.
