3:1. For this reason I, Paul,With the words "For this reason" the writer of this letter refers back to the previous section of the letter ( 2:11-22) where he has explained how God has reconciled both Jews and Gentiles in one body. The writer here identifies himself as "I, Paul, the prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles". This identification of the writer as "Paul" has been important to the theological science of New Testament Introduction in establishing the authorship of this letter. And the identification of himself as "the prisoner for Christ Jesus" has also been important in establishing when and where this letter was written. It was written by the Apostle Paul when in he was imprisoned in Rome. See the Introduction to the commentary on this letter for a full discussion of these problems of authorship, time and place of the writing of this letter. It is interesting that Paul here refers to himself as "the prisoner for Christ Jesus", indicating what was the cause of his imprisonment; it was &qout;for Christ Jesus" that he was imprisoned ( Eph. 4:1; Acts 24:5, 14; 26:12-23, 31-32) and "on behalf of you Gentiles" (Acts 22:21; 26:16-20; 28:28). Some commentators see verses 2 through 13 as a digression, because the opening words of this verse "For this reason" (touto charin) are repeated at the beginning of verse 14 and this is taken to mean that Paul is resuming his thought after the parenthesis of verses 2 through 13. The repetition of the phrase "For this reason" does not necessarily mean a resumption after a digression; it just indicates the reason for what follows is the previous statements. Thus at the end of this verse Paul is not digressing but is breaking off his thought to explains the mystery of Christ that was revealed to him (3:2-7) and his stewardship of that mystery (3:8-13).
the prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles --
2. if indeed that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace3:2. "if indeed that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace
that was given to me for you,3. that the mystery was made known to me by revelation,
as I have written before briefly.4. When you read this you can realize my understanding
into the mystery of Christ,5. which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations
as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit;6. that is, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs,
members of the same body,
and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus
through the gospel.7. Of this gospel I was made a minister
according to the gift of God's grace
which was given me according to the working of his power.
3:3. "that the mystery was made known to me by revelation,
as I have written before briefly." --
As we saw in our note on
Eph. 1:9,
the Greek word, musterion,
which is here translated "mystery," originally meant
"that which is known to the initiated (mustes), a secret
doctrine." In the NT it is something previously concealed but is now
revealed; it is a revealed secret. This mystery was made known to Paul by
revelation. Paul here says that he had previously written briefly that
this mystery was made known to him by revelation. To what passage in his
correspondence Paul is here referring to is matter of some dispute. It is
most probable that he is here referring back to what he has already said in
this letter, especially to Eph.
1:9.
3:4. "When you read this you can realize my understanding
into the mystery of Christ," --
The opening words of this verse, "When you read this", Paul is
referring either to what he has written in this letter previously in
verse 3
above). This knowledge of the mystery was not a personal discovery for which
he can take credit. It was the gift of God by His Spirit. Paul purpose here
is not self-glorification but was to emphasize that God is the source of this
revealed secret.
3:5. "which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations
as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit;" --
This secret was not known by the men of previous generations, because
God had not revealed to them. But this revelation was given now to His holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit of God. Paul here obviously includes
himself among "His holy apostles". They are holy because they
they have been set apart for the task they have been sent to do. Paul's
use of the adjective "holy" is different from the way the word
is understood today. It does not mean "without sin" or
"sinlessly perfect"; the Biblical meaning is "to be set apart
for" or "consecrated". According to
Eph. 2:20
the apostles and prophets are the foundation of the building of God and this
mystery is the foundation teaching of His holy apostles and prophets.
3:6. "that is, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs,
members of the same body,
and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus
through the gospel." --
What is this mystery? In this verse Paul tells what is this mystery
that was revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
There are three elements to this revealed secret:
(a) that the Gentiles are fellow heirs with the Jews,
(b) that the Gentiles are members of the same body with the Jews,
(c) that the Gentiles are partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus
through the gospel.
Note carefully what was known and not known formerly. That God's blessing
was to be extended to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews was a recurrent
theme of Old Testament prophecy, from the promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:3)
onwards. In Rom. 15:9-12 Paul quotes a string of passages from all
three divisions of the Old Testament (The Law, Deut. 32:43; The Prophets,
Isa. 11:10; and The Writings, Psa. 18:44; 117:1) to show that the
Gentiles share in God's blessings to the Jews. Compare the quotation of
Isa. 49:6 in Acts 13:47 where Paul justifies his apostolic ministry of
preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. But what was not revealed in the Old
Testament is the fact that these blessings of the gospel involved the creation
of "one new man" (
Eph. 2:15)
by the incorporation of Jewish and Gentile believers alike as fellow-members
of the same body, the body of Christ. This is the mystery that was revealed
now to the holy apostles and prophets. Paul here uses three Greek words to
express this joint participation in the one new man:
synkleronomos, joint-heirs to show that their inhertance was not
based human birth;
synsomos, concorporation or joint-members of the same body of
Christ; and
symmetochos, joint-sharers in the covenant promises in Christ
Jesus.
And that these unexpected benefites God designed for both Jew and Gentile
in ages past have now been brought into reality in Christ Jesus and through
the preaching of the gospel.
This statement of the mystery of Christ raises a problem. In his companion letter to the Colossians, Paul says that "the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to the saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col. 1:25-27). This seems to be saying that the mystery is Christ in you and appears to be contrary to what Paul is saying here in this letter, that is, you are in Christ. But these are not contrary and incompatible truths. These are two complementary truths and are two aspects of the same mystery. These are two sides of the believers' relation to Christ; they are in Christ and Christ in them. Those who want to deny a common authorship to these two letters want to assert that there is a difference in the teachings in these two letters. But there is no necessity to regard the meaning of the mystery in Colossians and in Ephesians as being contradictory and incompatible.
3:7. "Of this gospel I was made a minister
according to the gift of God's grace
which was given me according to the working of his power." --
Paul now states his part in God's mystery. By the gift of God's grace
he was made a minister. It was not Paul's plan or doing, but the working
of God's power. Paul elsewhere tells us how when he was on way to persecute
the believers in Damascus, the risen and ascended Jesus Christ stopped him on
the road and revealed Himself to Paul (Acts 26:9-18). This was definitely the
working of the power of God. It changed not only his direction on the road,
but the direction of his life; he was made a minister of the gospel.
8. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints,
this grace was given,
to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,9. and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery
which was hidden for ages in God who created all things;10. that through the church the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known to the principalities and powers
in the heavenly places.11. This was according to the eternal purpose
which He did in Christ Jesus our Lord,12. in whom we have boldness and access in confidence
through faith in Him.13. So I ask you not to lose heart over
what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
3:8. "To me, though I am the very least of all the saints,
this grace was given,
to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ," --
Paul cannot stop with his speaking of "the gift of God's grace"
without making further comments on it. Grace was shown to him though he was
"the very least of all the saints". He invents this comparative
of a superlative (elachistotero) translated "very least"
to express not his unworthiness but to express that God's grace does not
depend upon our worth. And this is not a feigned humility, but is a statement
based on the fact that he was a persecutor of the church of God (as in I Cor.
15:9-10; Gal. 1:13-16; I Tim. 1:12-14). He is not here comparing himself to
others; if he was, he would speak as he does in II Cor. 12:11; "For I am
not inferior to these superlative apostles. even if I am nothing." Paul
is here magnifying the grace of God, God acting in love to bestow His gifts.
Grace gives. Grace is more than unmerited favor; grace is God giving His gift.
God in His grace gave Paul not only salvation but also gave him a ministry,
"to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ".
Paul has already spoken of the "riches of His grace" (Eph.
1:7;
2:7,
where he adds the adjective huperballon, translated "immeasurable,
exceeding, surpassing"); here he adds the adjective
(anexichniaston) translated "unsearchable, unfathomable"
to describe the riches of Christ. This adjective literally means
"that cannot be traced out"; it is the negative (Greek a)
of "to trace out" (exichniazo). It is used
in the Septuagint of the works of God (Job 5:9; 9:10). These
"unsearchable riches" are not of the message of the gospel, nor of
the doctrine of Christ, but of Christ Himself. Paul was proclaiming not just
riches of a message or of a doctrine, but the riches of Christ Himself.
He was introducing Christ to the Gentiles who had not heard of Him before.
Having himself experienced those "unsearchable riches of Christ",
Paul chould most effectively preach them "to the Gentiles";
they like Paul were on the outside.
3:9. "and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery
which was hidden for ages in God who created all things;" --
There are three textual problems in the Greek text of this verse.
3:10. "that through the church the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known to the principalities and powers
in the heavenly places." --
Paul here states what was to be accomplished by "administration
of the mystery". That which is not known by "the principalities
and powers in heavenly places", that is, the manifold wisdom of God,
is now made known to them through the church. Paul has previously spoken
of the "wisdom" in which the grace of God was made to abound (
Eph. 1:8)
and he has prayed that God will give to his readers
"a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the full knowledge of Him" (
Eph. 1:17).
Here Paul speaks of the source of that wisdom.
"the manifold wisdom of God" and describes it as
"manifold".
The Greek word polupoikilos here translated "manifold" is
a compound adjective of polus ("many") and poikilos
("colored", see I Pet. 4:10);
it was used by classical Greek writers to refer to a cloth with a pattern
of endless variety of colors in flowers; hence, variegrated.
This "manifold wisdom of God" has been made known to
"the principalities and powers in heavenly places", that is,
the rulers (arche) and authorities (exousias) in heaven (see
Eph. 1:20).
These spiritual beings were given a prominent place in Gnosticism that
was being developed at this time. Paul accepted the existence of these
beings, but insisted that they are created and limited beings, some good
and some evil. Paul is saying here that their knowledge is limited and
that they are not gods. Gnosticism believed that they were gods and that
they knew everything and that acceptance of their knowledge (gnosis)
that they made known was salvation. Paul rejects this doctrine of salvation
by knowledge and insists that salvation is by the grace of God through faith
(Eph. 2:
5,
8).
But even though salvation is not by knowledge this salvation by grace
through faith does give a true knowledge of God and His will.
Paul will speak of this knowledge later (
3:19).
3:11. "This was according to the eternal purpose
which He did in Christ Jesus our Lord," --
Paul in this verse connects this making known to "the principalities
and powers in heavenly places" the "manifold wisdom of God"
with the eternal purpose of God; it "was according to the eternal purpose
which He did in Christ Jesus our Lord". God's plan is not ad hoc,
on the spur of the moment, but one conceived in eternity and of eternal scope.
And Christ is the agent of carrying out that purpose and accomplishing that
plan. And what was this that God "did in Christ Jesus our Lord"?
Paul answers this in the next verse.
3:12. "in whom we have boldness and access in confidence
through faith in Him." --
In Christ Jesus our Lord, God accomplished our salvation from death to
life; from separation from God to fellowship with God, so that "we
have boldness and access in confidence through faith in Him". The
Greek word parresias translated "boldness" means basically
"freedom of speech, plainness and openness of speech". It is often
used of boldness before men, as in Acts 4:31, Phil. 1:20, and
Eph. 6:20, the absence of fear and shame. Here
it is used of a similar absence of fear and shame in approaching God. The
writer of Hebrews speaks of the same boldness in Heb. 4:16 and 10:19.
To this "boldness" Paul links the word prosagoge
translated "access" which he had previously used in
Eph. 2:18, which literally means "a
bringing to". In view of the following phrase the intransitive use
of the word seems correct; it is "access in confidence".
This phrase expresses a thought very similar to that of boldness, but
it is more personal. A personal confidence in God that gives this openness
and boldness. This confidence is "through faith in Him";
through faith one believes that God loves him and receives the gift
of God's grace. Faith is more than mere intellectual belief, it is
personal trust and confidence in God.
3:13. "So I ask you not to lose heart over
what I am suffering for you, which is your glory." --
Because of the ambiguity of the Greek text, there are three
interpretations possible.
14. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,15. from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named,
16. in order that according to the riches of His glory
He may grant you to be strengthened with power
through His Spirit in the inner man,17. Christ to dwell in your hearts through faith,
being rooted and grounded in love;18. in order that you may be fully able to grasp with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,19. and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
in order that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.
3:14. "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father," --
Some commentators, because the opening words of verse 1 "For this reason"
(touto charin) are repeated here at the beginning of this verse,
see verses 2 through 13 as a digression and that Paul is resuming at this
verses 14 his thought after the parenthesis. But the repetition of the phrase
"For this reason" does not necessarily mean a resumption after a
digression; it just indicates the reason for what follows is in the previous
statements. Thus the reason that Paul bows his knees before the Father is
given in verses
12 and
13;
it is because "we have boldness and access in
confidence through faith in Him", that Paul bows his knees before the
Father. And it is because he does not want them to lose heart
concerning his sufferings, that Paul bows his knees in prayer before
the Father to intercede for them.
3:15. "from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named," --
Paul here identifies the heavenly Father as the source of all fatherhood
that is. The translation of patria by "family" here obscures
for the English reader the close relation of this word to the word pater
("Father") in the preceding verse. Paul is saying here that every
species of fatherhood in the universe ("in heaven and on earth")
is derived from the original, archetypal Fatherhood of God. And the nearer
any fatherhood, natural and spiritual, approaches in character to God's
perfect Fatherhood, the more truly does it manifest the fatherhood as God
intended it to be. Also the KJV translation as "the whole family"
is incorrect, because it would require the presence of a definite article
in the Greek, which is absent. Paul is here speaking concerning the character
of fatherhood, and not specific instances of fatherhood. They are named
"father" because they have the character of fatherhood. Jesus
in Matthew 7:11 describes the character of fatherhood when He says,
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those
ask Him." Accordingly this reference to God as Father gives the basis
for Paul's prayer for his readers.
3:16. "in order that according to the riches of His glory
He may grant you to be strengthened with power
through His Spirit in the inner man," --
It is not "out of" but "according to" the riches of
His glory that God grants the requests made to Him. The requests are to be
granted not just from the riches of God's glory as the source but according
to the riches of God's glory as the measure of the quality of the grants.
And the answer to the requests that Paul makes to the Father must have a
divine quality because it is for his readers "to be strengthened with
power through His Spirit in the inner man". This is the first request
that Paul is praying for. The Greek verb krataiothenai translated here
"to be strengthened" means "to make strong"; it is derived
from the Greek noun kratos which means "strength" and
referred originally in early Greek literature, Homer, etc., to bodily strength.
The related Greek verb krateo means "to be strong, mighty",
hence, "to get possession of, obtain, to take hold of" (Matt. 9:25;
Mark 1:31; 5:41; 9:27; Luke 8:54), and "to hold, hold fast",
literally (Rev. 2:1) and metaphorically, (Acts 2:24; Col. 2:19; Heb. 4:14;
5:18; Rev. 2:13, 25; 3:11). The verb here in this verse is a later form of
the verb kratuno which is also derived from the noun kratos;
it occurs four times in the NT: Luke 1:80; 2:40; I Cor. 16:13; Eph. 3:16;
and means "to strengthen", and as passive, "to wax strong".
Here Paul uses the verb with the meanng: to be made spiritual strong
"with power through His Spirit in the inner man". Paul wants his
readers to be equipped with power (dunamis) that makes them able to
live and stand firm in Christ (cf. I Cor. 16:13).
3:17. "Christ to dwell in your hearts through faith,
being rooted and grounded in love;" --
Paul here makes specific what he means by his request that his readers
"to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man";
it is that Christ should dwell in their hearts through faith. Christ Himself
is the power of God and when He dwells through the Spirit in their hearts they
will be strengthened in the inner man. It is through the Spirit of God that
Christ dwells in their heart, for the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ
(Rom. 8:2) and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not have
Christ dwelling in their hearts (Rom. 8:9). This is where faith comes in; it
is through faith that Christ dwells in their heart. It is by a choice of faith
that one opens the door and invites Christ to come in (Rev. 3:20). The verb
that Paul uses here katoikai that is translated "to dwell"
is significant; it indicates a permanent residence in contrast to the verb
parokein (Luke 24:18; Heb. 11:9) and the noun paroikos (
Eph. 2:19;
I Pet. 2:11), which indicates a transitory dwelling in a place.
It is through faith that Christ is not only invited into their heart but is
through faith that Christ has permanent residence in one's heart. The heart
here is not the physical organ but it is the seat of choice in the human
person (spirit) and the dwelling place of the Spirit of Christ. And He
has shed aboard [poured out] in our hearts the love of God (Rom. 5:5).
Since love as well as faith is the choice of the will, it is from the heart
that faith and love must come. Faith choses to receive the gift of God's
love, Jesus Christ, and with Him dwelling in our heart through faith, we
are rooted and grounded in love. God's love is the ground out of which
our love grows. But the Greek participle tethemeliomenoi translated
"grounded" does not refer to the "ground" but rather
refers to a foundation (themelios) and means "having been
founded" or "to be established on a foundation" (Matt. 7:25).
Christ is the foundation, whether of one's life or ministry; as Paul says,
"For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid,
which is Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 3:10).
3:18. "in order that you may be fully able to grasp with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and depth," --
In verses
16 and
17
Paul states his first request for his readers
in his prayer to God the Father; in this verse and the next he states his
second request for them; that they may be fully able to grasp and to know
the love of Christ. The phrase "you may be fully able to grasp"
is the translation of two Greek verbs, exischusete which is translated
"you may be fully able" and katalabesthai which is translated
"to grasp". The first verb means literally "to have the
strength" and this is why Paul prayed in his first request that they
might be "strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner
man" (
Eph. 3:16).
The second verb is an infinitive and is translated
"to grasp". It means literally "to lay hold of, to seize,
to appropriate" (Mark 9:18; I Cor. 9:24; Phil. 3:12-13) and of a mental
action, "to apprehend, to comprehend" (Acts 4:13; 10:34; 25:25),
and so here. This comprehension is not possible apart from the strengthing
of the Holy Spirit but is available to all the saints. This is not secret
knowledge limited to a few insiders as taught by the Gnostics, but is
available to all that will receive Christ. What is to be grasped? Paul
does not say in this verse what is the object of this knowledge - that he
tells us in the next verse - but here indicates the scope of this knowledge,
"what is the breadth and length and height and depth" of it.
3:19. "and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
in order that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God." --
The object of this knowledge is "the love of Christ which surpasses
knowledge". Of this knowledge Gnosticism knows nothing, because it is
not a knowledge grasp by the mind, it is not intellectual knowledge, but it
is a heart knowledge that is revealed to the heart and received by the heart.
This knowledge is not knowledge of something but of a person, God the Father
and of Jesus Christ, His Son. What is revealed from them is the love of God
and the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. Human knowledge that
seeks to reason from what is seen to what is not seen can not comprehend
the invisible God; God must reveal Himself in order that man can know Him.
When that reelation is received by faith, the believer has not just a
knowledge about God but a knowledge of God Himself that they "may be
filled unto all the fullness of God". It is not some part of God that
we receive when we receive Christ, but all the fullness of God, because we
receive not just something from God, but God Himself (John 1:16).
20. Now to Him who by the power at work within us
is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,21. to Him be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever.
Amen.
3:20. "Now to Him who by the power at work within us
is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think," --
In these opening words of the doxology, Paul speaks directly to God,
connecting his readers to His power by which God is at work within them
(of which he has already spoken in
verse 16)
and by which God's generousity and ability to do goes beyond what they may ask
or think. God is not limited to what they ask of Him or what they think that
He can or will do for them.
3:21. "to Him be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever.
Amen." --
This is the doxology proper. Paul ascribes glory to God, but not
his glorifying of God but the glory given to God in the church and in
Christ. Christ glorified God and the church as His body glorifies Him,
and this is "to all generations, for ever and ever", or literally,
"to all the generations of the age of the ages" (RV).
There shall be no end to the praise and the glorification of God.
And appropriately, Paul end with "Amen", that is, so be it or
let it be true. This is not only a solemn end to a prayer, but is assent
to what has been requested and to the truth of what is asserted about God
and His works.