Ephesians 3:1 Commentary and Bible Study

Now the second part of this chapter is a magnificent passage which, in a sense, has two introductions: the first verse here – ‘For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ,’ followed by a long digression, and then in verse 14 Paul effectively continues and completes verse 1 – ‘For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you,’ and there is then the wonderful prayer, ‘according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.’ The phrase, ‘for this cause’ refers to the last verse of the previous chapter: ‘In whom ye also’ – you Gentile converts at Ephesus and elsewhere – ‘are builded together [with Jews] for an habitation of God through the Spirit.’ Because as Gentiles they have been remarkably woven into the church of Jesus Christ and are equal with any saved Jews. That is going to be a great theme of these verses, that God has not merely brought the Gentiles into the Jewish order but he has brought both Jews and Gentiles into something entirely new, into the international Jewish-Gentile church of Jesus Christ with equal, spiritual standing and access to Christ.But first we must consider the digression because, although it is a digression, it is so important and so valuable. It is about Paul’s special calling, his special calling as the apostle to the Gentiles. He wants to describe this to the Ephesians because very soon Judaising heretics would come and tell them that they cannot possibly be God’s children, because they are Gentiles. Christ is not enough. They must adopt the Jewish ceremonies and virtually become Jewish proselytes. The heretics will come denying the salvation which they found. Oh no, Paul will tell them. This is the Gentile mission. God has now thrown open the door of the church to the Gentiles. He is the first apostle of the Gentiles and this is the beginning, the salvation of many Gentiles and it will spread of course worldwide down to the present age.But Paul describes himself as ‘the prisoner of Jesus Christ.’ Well, he had been imprisoned in Caesarea for two years and now he has been imprisoned in Rome for two years. Four years so far as a prisoner, and he writes to the Ephesians, the church that he founded some five years earlier. Missionary journeys have already been carried out. The gospel has been spread far and wide. Amazing numbers of people have been converted. But now he languishes as a prisoner, and he writes these great prison letters to the different churches.But he calls himself not a prisoner of the Romans, but a prisoner of Christ, which he was. Well, he had committed no crime, he was facing no trial for any civil offence: not theft, not murder of course, nothing like that. He was there because of the Jews. He had been taken in Jerusalem and seized when he was visiting a temple and praying there, and the furious mob had tried to murder him on the spot. He had been rescued by the Roman occupying force, and kept in the Fortress Antonio on the side of the temple precincts. Then he had been brought out onto the steps of the fortress and there he made his defence before the Jews. He preached to them and they listened, and he told them his testimony, and then he came to the point where he told them how God had called him to take the gospel to the Gentiles. God had said both to Ananias and directly to Paul himself that he would send him far away to the Gentiles to preach to them. Hearing this, the great mob in Jerusalem began rioting. ‘He is not fit to live,’ they said. Once again the Romans had to take him into protective custody, and that led to his being retained by them, and consequently being heard by Agrippa, King Herod and Felix, resulting in his appeal to Rome. So he is now in Rome, awaiting trial, in prison, writing these letters.He calls himself a prisoner of Christ. It is in the place of Christ, being persecuted as Christ was persecuted, and for the cause of the Gentiles. As soon as he announced his mission to the Gentiles then the Jews would not have it. So it is absolutely accurate – ‘For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ,’ under the sovereign will of God for you Gentiles.